Blumhouse's Fantasy Island
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: February 14, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
22
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
10
Negative:
19
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 19, 2020
The only thing more insane and contrived than the Big Reveal is the epilogue, which contains not one but two maddeningly bizarre developments that are beyond strange and inconsistent, even for a movie that’s been strange and inconsistent all along. Read full review
50
Film ThreatAnthony Ray BenchFeb 17, 2020
It’s a laughably bad, generic, and bloodless PG-13 waste of two hours, and that’s everything I fantasized it wouldn’t end up being. Read full review
50
PolygonJesse HassengerFeb 14, 2020
Fantasy Island isn’t especially scary, but scares don’t usually seem like the point of a Blumhouse horror gimmick. At their best, these movies have the energy and shamelessness of a carnival ride, where the enthusiasm means more than the atmosphere. Fantasy Island knowingly steals from everywhere, and sometimes cleverly incorporates its derivativeness into the filmmaking. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 14, 2020
I didn’t hate this slaughter-at-the-soap opera reboot. Not until it goes seriously off the rails in the third act, anyway. But don’t get your “torture porn” hopes up with the word “slaughter.” It is PG-13, after all. And this isn’t “Hostel.” Read full review
42
Original-CinJim SlotekFeb 14, 2020
Suffice to say, this is all getting explained when scary things could actually be happening. My “FUN-tasy” throughout was that the credits would roll. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Feb 14, 2020
Thriller framework aside, Fantasy Island probably works best as a comedy. At least when it’s not trying to be one. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeMar 6, 2020
An odd attempt at genre-surfing that ends up well out of its depth. Read full review
40
EmpireJames WhiteMar 3, 2020
Unlikely to win over those who remember the lush vistas and Montalban-powered original, nor appeal much to teens looking for a horror-filled night at the movies, Fantasy Island is distinctly sub-par filmmaking full of clichés and lacking in real entertainment value. No one would call this their ultimate fantasy. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoFeb 14, 2020
From start to finish, Fantasy Island is lacking wicked wonderment and poignant reboot vocality. You'd be best off skipping it. Read full review
40
IGNJim VejvodaFeb 14, 2020
Blumhouse’s theatrical adaptation of the TV classic Fantasy Island never quite works as a horror film, a comedy, or a melodrama despite its attempts at being all three. It works marginally better as a mystery but by that point, you’re not as invested in the story’s outcome or its generic protagonists to muster much of a reaction. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 14, 2020
Seriously, the running time of Fantasy Island should be listed as “sometime tomorrow." Read full review
30
CNNBrian LowryFeb 14, 2020
That seed of potential, however, sails away on a tide of numbing stupidity. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerFeb 14, 2020
Everything that made the original series so memorable and succesful - its heart, its weird wit, its adherence to the morality play model - is completely lacking. Read full review
30
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 14, 2020
The finished film plays at times like an out-of-control pitch meeting, lurching from one ostensibly clever idea to the next without having taken the trouble to connect the dots, or even to remain consistent with the two simple rules it sets out for itself. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeFeb 14, 2020
If this were the feature-length pilot episode for some cheap reboot on a streaming service — which is what it feels like — a generous viewer might half-heartedly agree to tune in next week and see if things get more interesting. But on the big screen? A sequel would be less welcome than a new episode of, say, Charlie's Angels. Or Starsky & Hutch. Read full review
30
The New York TimesGlenn KennyFeb 14, 2020
This is all interesting from a pro-am cinema semiotics perspective, but none of it is in the least bit scary. This, really, is what happens when you take all the wrong lessons out of film school. Read full review
30
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeFeb 14, 2020
If this new movie — referred to in some circles as Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island — were a pilot for a TV reboot, it would come off as overwrought and underwritten but still possibly on the right track for a revived anthology series. As a movie, those flaws are magnified to the size of the silver screen, and its contrivances and coincidences come off as even less convincing. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiFeb 14, 2020
So yes, Fantasy Island is a terrible movie — this probably won’t come as a shock to most people — but more than that, it seems to have been made with absolutely no one in mind. Read full review
25
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 14, 2020
The biggest shock of this new movie re-imagination is that it makes the original seem fresh and smart by comparison. Perhaps that makes this whole endeavor nothing more than TV producer Aaron Spelling’s posthumous fantasy. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleZaki HasanFeb 14, 2020
Unfortunately, the scares aren’t particularly scary, the lessons aren’t particularly compelling, and the ultimate resolution takes far too long to arrive at a conclusion that’s far too pat. Read full review
25
IndieWireDavid EhrlichFeb 14, 2020
By the time this Fantasy Island arrives at its gallingly stupid final twist, you’ll be dying to go home. Read full review
20
Time OutTomris LafflyMar 6, 2020
A wooden ensemble, paper-thin frights and dull TV-special looks don’t help matters. ‘This place doesn’t suck,’ someone observes early on. If only. Read full review
16
The PlaylistJason BaileyFeb 14, 2020
Fantasy Island is even worse than you’d guess. Both artistically and intellectually, it’s an absolutely bankrupt enterprise. Read full review
10
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreFeb 14, 2020
It is a terrible horror movie, by the way, just wretchedly unenjoyable. Read full review
10
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaFeb 14, 2020
Fantasy Island is a failure on nearly every level. Read full review
10
Screen DailyTim GriersonFeb 14, 2020
Fantasy Island is the sort of inept, forgettable disaster that doesn’t even induce so-bad-it’s-good chuckles. Read full review
0
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 15, 2020
The only genuine, blood-curdling scream incited by this stupefyingly dull time- and money-waster comes at the end, when the notion dawns that Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island is meant to spawn sequels. Stop it now, before it kills again. Read full review
0
ConsequenceJoe LipsettFeb 14, 2020
Ultimately Fantasy Island’s four-for-the-price-of-one narrative and its excruciating hour-and-50-minute runtime doom it. The film is visually bland, lacks charismatic characters or interesting backstories, and long overstays its welcome with an egregiously protracted third act that feels interminable. Read full review
0
Los Angeles TimesKimber MyersFeb 14, 2020
The movie can only be classified as something truly terrible, escaping any other categorization that would make it resemble an actual film. Read full review
More From This Movie

22 Critic Reviews

4.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL