Back when I was in high school, they promoted these summer vacation trips to Europe that would be chaperoned by teachers. I had zero desire to go on them for two reasons. First: I did not want to go on any sort of vacation with my classmates. Not that any of them were horrible people, but after six to seven hours in classes, I didn’t need to hang out with them for days outside of a classroom. I’d gone on enough “normal” school trips in my lifetime to have experienced one or more classmates acting up so that we all got punished. I’d hate to imagine the punishment in Paris. Maybe they’d break out the guillotine again? The second reason: Was it really a vacation if your teachers are still in charge? I didn’t need to see them after hours and in a foreign country. It would be worse than bumping into them at the grocery store. As soon as I heard the premise of The Island being a bunch of school kids go on a vacation with teachers to a remote island; I accepted it as a horror film.
Mr. Cheung (Double Impact‘s John Sham) is a teacher who take six students to an island in Hong Kong’s new territories. It’s not a major tourist attraction and the plan is for the students to camp out on the beach. During their exploration of the island “attractions,” they come across a little snack and drink shop run by the three Fat brothers. They are rather creepy as they serve the students. The youngest of brothers takes a liking to one of the female students. He’s willing to trade pieces of jewelry to Mr. Cheung in order to marry her. The teacher thinks it’s a joke and the permission slip her parents signed didn’t have any mention of selling their daughters to creepy island guys for marriage. What the teacher doesn’t know is the brothers are extremely serious. Mom Fat only wants her boys to marry virgins. A middle school student might fulfill her demand. Cheung has no idea where the jewelry came from. The three bothers put on a charm offensive at first, but then they get really serious about their demands. Abruptly the school trip turns into a tropical island nightmare.
The Island is the horror film that lets you know skipping the teacher chaperoned “vacation” was the smartest thing you ever did in your life. Director Po-Chih Leong (Hong Kong 1941) masterfully bends this film from a quirky school comedy into a bloody horror flick. You don’t feel that this is an abrupt change of tone so much as you’ve been waiting to see how crazed the Fat brothers are. The actors playing the school kids bring a bit to their character so they’re more than Spam on a tropical island. The film came out in 1985 and is as scary and entertaining as any of the teenage slasher/horror films coming out around this time in America. The Fat brothers excel in terrorizing the kids. They use snakes as a weapon. This is a film that has the same vibe as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes except you don’t doubt why these kids and their teacher would come to such a remote location. It’s a beautiful island. How were they supposed to know it was occupied by a family of certifiable insane sadistic freaks? The Island is a tense, frightening and scary glimpse of paradise.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. You’ll see all the details of the island in the 2K restoration. The Audio is Cantonese mono LPCM 2.0. You will hear the creepy steps of the brothers. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary with Mike Leeder and Arne Venema starts when them mentioning the Peter Benchley book also called The Island. They get into Goldfish Street in Hong Kong. They talk of companies that buy goldfish to release in the wild for good luck on a project. They let us know about what it’s like to get stuck by a spiny sea urchin. They also talk about the land rights on the New Territories.
Audio Commentary with Frank Djeng opens up with him reminding us that Michael Bay also made a movie with the same title. He points out how the singer of the theme song had her music removed in China for her pro democracy support. He gives us the scoop on how the movie did OK upon release, but doesn’t get seen much in Hong Kong. He gives us the background on the real island in the film.
Tony Raynes on The Island (16:57) has him give the background on D&B (the B is Sammo Hung). After they made Hong Kong 1941, the studio went with small and less prestigious films.
Surviving The Shoot (22:34) has director Po-Chih Leong giving a Master Class at the Far East Film Festival. Has him talk about making movies at the height of Hong Kong cinema. He talks about all of his kid actors in The Island had never made a movie before. This made hitting their marks a bit complicated, but he worked with this. He explains certain symbolism in the film. There’s a bit of discussion about changing tone in a film. How does he go back to comedy feel after a horror scene? This was recorded by Fred Ambroisine
Trailer (4:00) sets up the middle school kids going on a trip with a teacher. You know things are gonna go wrong. Then we see the nightmare start.
Limited Edition Illustrated Booklet with an interview with Po-Chih Leong by Roger Garcia.
Eureka! Entertainment presents The Island (Limited Edition). Directed by Po-Chih Leong. Screenplay by The Dak Bo Creative Group & Kei Shu. Starring John Sham, Hoi-Lun Au, Timothy Zao, Ching-Yuen Tse, Wai Kwan Kwok, Ban Wong, Lung Chan, Jing Chen, Billy Sau Yat Ching & Lap Ban Chan. Running Time: 93 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: October 28, 2025.
