Monster Island (2019 TV Movie) User Reviews (44)

Even for The Aslyum, a letdown.

[kevinxirau · 3/10 · 5 June 2019]

I first came to know of The Asylum through their infamous Mega Shark series and other wacky monster films, which were fun trash to watch (key word being "fun"). So, when I heard they were doing their own version of the classic Monster Island (an idea first introduced in the Godzilla franchise), I was curious to see. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

So, the plot goes that a deep-sea prospecting expedition disturbs a kaiju, which threatens the world. While the military tries in vain to kill the creature, a team of scientists heads out to find an equally powerful beast to stop it. Sounds like a nice setup for all kinds of crazy carnage, right? Too bad, barely anything happens. The Asylum is known for making films featuring mass destruction and over-the-top action but this film surprisingly underplays it. Anything that is remotely exciting happens literally for a few seconds at a time with the rest just being the characters just observing and talking for long stretches of time. Monster Island itself isn't even the main focus, only appearing within the climax of the film and the actual "battles" between the monsters are uneventful and last as long as a blink of an eye.

I'll give the film credit that the graphics and animation have improved somewhat since the first Mega Shark, the creature designs are decent, most of the acting is adequately straightforward with a few silly performances, and the kaiju lore is okay if derivative. Sadly, this is all bogged down given how there's little payoff or excitement to be had here. All in all, "Monster Island" is a snooze and should simply be skipped.

Monsters versus mankind

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 7 July 2019]

The Asylum have the odd watchable effort, but never has their best work really been more than that. Most of the time though, their output is rarely above mediocre and even often terrible, the worst without any redeeming qualities. Yet there is something compulsive about their relatively consistent badness, speaking as somebody who does not actually mind low-budget and can get enjoyment out of this kind of story, as long as some kind of effort is obvious.

'Monster Island', starting off on a kind note or at least an attempt an honest attempt of a kind note if it doesn't come over that year, is not one of The Asylum's worst. Nowhere near, although there is hardly anything good in 'Monster Island' to me (did have to look hard for them too) it isn't completely irredeemable like their worst efforts are. This is from personal perspective of course. Still found it monstrously bad, the flaws are many, almost every other way, and they are not small, huge actually. Saying this with regret not malice, and there is much more to the problem than being derivative.

Its least bad asset is the production design, the one asset where effort was obvious. Though this is only marginally so rather than significantly so. A particularly good job was done with the caves as has been said already. Some of the photography was okay.

Elsewhere, the production values were really poorly done and that the film was made on the cheap is obvious. It looks pretty drab, but it's the disorganised looking editing and last minute looking visual effects, that would even look out of date in the 50s, that come off worst. The submarine is used poorly and there is nothing authentic about it, it didn't look like a submarine and looked like it was filmed in a tank. What can be remembered of the music has very little presence and the film might as better well not had music at all because it didn't fit, added nothing and wouldn't have sounded appealing on its own.

Was expecting little from the script, and it turned out to be worse than expected with the cheese and awkwardness too frequently being rather hard to take. Predictability was hardly unexpected and would have tolerated it, providing that there was some degree of fun and suspense. Unfortunately, 'Monster Island' completely failed to be fun, even on a guilty pleasure level, and the stupidity became intelligence-insulting and exhausting after a while. The suspense was also absent and the whole film felt dreary. The monster action is limited, or at least what the underused creatures are given to do. What there was leaves one confused, bored and shouting at the screen in frustration and the creatures have little personality let alone menace or soul.

Got the sense that the director Mark Atkins had little plan of how to direct or structure 'Monster Island' or what to do with it or that his heart was barely in it. The characters were neither interesting or worth rooting for, there is so little to them in personality or development, their nonsensical decision making is both frustrating and disreacting and how they're written has been seen before many times. The acting is poor at best, the biggest name being Eric Roberts who acts like a sleepwalking robot.

Concluding, very bad. 2/10

Bad, bad babies

[unbrokenmetal · 4/10 · 29 June 2019]

Two employees of marine researcher Billy Ford (Adrian Bouchet) discover a giant starfish on the ocean floor which has lava for blood. Annoyed by the submarine, the starfish rises to the surface, slaps a couple of ships and then decides to head for the coast to lay eggs. Ugly little dragons are hatching from these eggs and start to puke lava at anyone they meet. Bad, bad babies! General Horne (Eric Roberts) summons the army in vain to solve the monster problem. Billy Ford, however, meanwhile simply attempts to find a bigger monster and arrange a battle of the two...

Another ludicrous 'Pacific Rim' rip-off from the Asylum factory line which was ok most of the running time (I voted 4 of 10). The actors were passable, some locations looked good, for example the Swiss cheese caves, the pacing was never lame, and the effects were what you expect from suffering similar experiences.

If there was a negative star I'd give it...

[wkdsyc1 · 1/10 · 2 June 2019]

Where the hell are the monsters??? Glimpses and pieces... nothing I'd watch ever again and I love these kinds of movies!

LOL, D list actors at their worst

[refbumrulz · 1/10 · 9 June 2019]

Eric Roberts. WHY hire him? WHY WHY? He wasn't wearing the correct uniform and needed a haircut BADLY for being in the "navy".

The submarine existed of about $100 worth of materials. It looked like those zero turn mower handles were on it. The hatch was thinner than an aluminum garbage can lid. They did put 4 over size pressure gauges in the sub to make it look technical haha. This movie is NOT to be taken seriously. When the sub comes out of the ocean you can see another object underneath it lifting it up above water. There were no "monsters" in this movie at all. Just very poor cgi 3 second glimpes of a limb or something.

I've seen better High School movie productions from up and coming film makers. Yes, is is that bad. Only watch if you want to shake your head from side to side at the utter amazement that someone even financed this movie.

If I was in it, I would not put this on my resume. I'd swear I must have had someone look like me and steal my name. Yes, once a gain. It is that bad.

Evidently, so far the ratings of 1 seem to actually be telling the truth. One very positive reviewer must be one of the stars relatives.

Absolutely dreadful

[wstetler51 · 1/10 · 2 June 2019]

This movie beginning to end was awful. The acting was baaaaad. The special effects were terrible. And the costume for the general what's ridiculous Stars over his right pocket a chiefs emblem on his collar , the word Navy on his shirt, and Australian flag on his left shoulder. Both the submarine and the submersible we're totally unrealistic. This movie was definitely made on the cheap. And the Kaiju was ridiculous. The Kaiju was a cross between a starfish and a squid, with molten lava for blood, and could move through the water at 50 knots. There were a whole lot more things wrong with this movie but I'll leave it at this.

The Asylum strikes yet again

[larosaj-26666 · 1/10 · 2 June 2019]

Why are these filmmakers still allowed behind a camera. Worse dreck in celluloid history. Looks like they walked up to some random guy on the street and said: Here's a thousand bucks to make a movie about kaigus, see what you can do. Apparently the guy pocketed 900 dollars and used the remaining 100 to hire some actors, director, sets and an etch a sketch for the effects. Of course I didn't watch this whole dreck; just FF to see how bad it could get. There should be a law.

Deep sea mining CEO battles kaiju in a tiny submarine

[matt-rouse-212-667348 · 1/10 · 10 June 2019]

Deep sea mining CEO battles kaiju in a tiny submarine. Yeah, it's that bad. The kaiju is half squid half starfish (sqarfish?) so it's officially the least interesting monster ever committed to celluloid. The acting is so wooden that it's a surprise the submersible can actually 'submerse'. The mining company's headquarters is a portakabin on the beach so that's clearly where most of the budget went. There's a lot of B movies where, with an open mind, you can enjoy them. This isn't one of them.

For Asylum this is top notch

[Snootz · 5/10 · 18 June 2019]

I am about as anti-Asylum as they come. I have never seen an Asylum film that was worth the first 5 minutes of watching. For some reason this one brought me to break my "No Asylum movies" rule. Maybe I was bored, tired, whatever. Watched it.

Surprisingly, it wasn't terrible. It's a little slow in places, but the story is interesting enough. The ending was ludicrous, as is typical of Asylum films, but it wasn't completely lame. The actors for once were reasonably decent. The directing wasn't half bad. The monster was a bit of fun.

So I'm giving it a 5-star "mediocre" rating. Almost gave it a 6 just because Asylum managed to finally produce a film that wasn't a complete loser. This had plot, story, directing, acting, goofy-but-not-stupid ending. Why, for Asylum this is almost prime roast... if one doesn't mind the flies swarming around. Besides, it's a Kaiju (giant monster) film. What are people expecting, brilliant conversation? Asylum. Kaiju. Face it... it could have been much worse. As in "Atlantic Rim" worse. Now that was a loser.

My Gawd

[fbmike · 1/10 · 10 June 2019]

And not in a good way. Holy smokes Eric Roberts! This dude seems to have this personal goal that is very important to him. That goal is to make sure in every movie that he appears in, it's going to be worse than the one he was in before that. He has been attaining that goal for over twenty years. Way to go Eric. He says as long as people will continue to pay him, he will keep on keeping on. Everyone involved in the making of this movie should be embarrassed. I have a feeling though that Eric is not one of them. The dude has no shame.

Rivals 2001 and Interstellar

[ewaf58 · 10/10 · 7 April 2021]

Wow what a movie. Great story - great acting and mind blowing special effects.

It grips from the first minute and never gives up its hold.

The production team should be congratulated - this deserved a cinema release not DVD.

I do so hope there's a sequel because I enjoy writing reviews from my padded cell.

It's a Kaiju.

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 17 May 2021]

I watched this a free SyFy film on DISH. There is never much love for Asylum. I tend to like their bad productions looking for the running error. We actually don't see Monster Island until very late in the film. This is the Kong/Godzilla mockbuster if you haven't figured it out with two titan monsters fighting at the end. I liked the typical characters, especially the French sea captain. The running joke is that their military insignias are always incorrect and sometimes change from scene to scene. Eric Roberts plays a General in charge of a destroyer fleet. He wears a naval uniform and even has a submarine qualification pin. For some strange reason he has a lone Chief Petty Officer anchor on his lapel. They are supposed to be in pairs and only on CPOs. The special effects were on par for Asylum. Consider how bad the Kong/Godzilla movie was, this was almost refreshing. Almost.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity. For Asylum fans only.

1990's Special Effects with occasional believable acting

[promotionalhenrywerch · 3/10 · 2 June 2019]

Some very good actors dumped in a cast of lesser performers do their best to make this liw-budget monster film watchable. I had a few decent laughs!

I'm Sorry

[saphiresjf · 1/10 · 2 June 2019]

I haven't seen the others, but with this just aired I tried to watch it openly. I would suggest 1 thing . **TRY AGAIN** I'm no scholar in Filmography, I only know so little from my past humanities course of how the lighting, position of people, and camera angle matter blah blah Blah. (the list can go on). With this movie, I'm going to just say this Children might enjoy this maybe, But if you are a Movie Fanatic who likes classics to just good movies. This one won't do justice. my hint: NEEDS MORE of Everything..

What do people expect

[mefoote · 4/10 · 15 June 2020]

Worse than some. Better than others. I don't expect cinema excellence. I did appreciate the originality of a starfish monsters. The character Riley does the Best terrified I have seen in a man.

Mayhem and destruction.

[michaelRokeefe · 2/10 · 13 May 2020]

Admiral Butler (Eric Roberts) has an entire fleet of Navy warships at his command: and brags of a new "sonar weapon", but gets a little slow when the chance comes to use it. Underwater sea mining is responsible when flying fire-breathing monsters start hatching from eggs and attacking the world. Two giant monsters will do battle and mankind will remain defenseless for how long?

Also featured are: Adrian Bouchet, Natalie Robbie, Toshi Toda and Margot Wood. Mr. Roberts could have phoned his part in. You may get trapped waiting for something to happen.

It Should Be Called 'Island'

[By-TorX-1 · 3/10 · 4 July 2019]

I was looking forward to the low-budget mirth promised by this low-cost affair that promised to be a cheap-and-cheerful Godzilla/Pacific Rim romp, but it is really, really, really bad. The monster action is pretty limited and a giant lava-filled starfish is not really my idea of a menacing giant terror, I must say. This might be mitigated with a likeable and engaging cast of human characters, but alas...Sometimes Asylum films deliver the so-bad-it-is-great goods to at least entertain in a perverse way, but this effort is just dispiriting and beyond dull - which is a crime for a mammoth-beast-on-the-rampage flick. In terms of the nominal star, I thought that The Cloth must surely be the nadir of Eric Roberts' career, but apparently not. Hopefully The Killers will soon come a-calling for him to appear in another one of their videos so that he can say no to the next Asylum call.

So, my advice regarding this film is this: don't weigh anchor at this island, just sail on to a better movie.

Lava for blood! Call the Admiral of the army! No, the Corporal of Space Command!

[benniegrezlik · 5/10 · 20 October 2020]

This movie is so funny I'm doing my own riffs. How could the writer confuse a General with an Admiral? Yes, a General in an Admiral's uniform is in charge of the Navy. Or is it the Coast Guard? No one knows and it's not important.

No matter. We are in the world of fantasy. But it's funny fantasy. I love the operator who is constantly peeing his pants about the danger of being in this little submarine fighting a humongous starfish. He seems to be the only sane person on board.

Let me count the absurdities. When they are out of the water they are running out of oxygen. When they are in the water, they can't fill their ballast tanks. (with water, which is all around them!).

That's my review for the first half of the movie. I may have to write another review for the last half. But that's based on the premise that it will get funnier, which I think is highly unlikely.

I'm clicking the button for ".. this review does not contain spoilers." I think it would take a direct hit with an H-bomb to spoil this movie. You can't spoil sauerkraut.

Kaiju - Attack

[kosmasp · 3/10 · 20 March 2021]

The heart is in the right place - is that not enough? For most probably not. You can "watch" this, while doing the laundry, making coffee, cleaning the house and so forth. And you would approximately have the same enthusiasm as Eric Roberts does - well his character that is, but I mean his ... work for that role.

Who am I kidding and who is the movie kidding? No one. You may be enticed and you may like low budget fare like this (Asylum does have a reputation and they do a lot of these movies) - or you may not. Just be aware of what you are about to watch and don't blame the movie afterward if you wasted precious life time of yours ...

It should be rated 0

[bigunit-36484 · 1/10 · 27 December 2022]

I am not going into this because others already have but just from a military standpoint:

1. They contact the Coast Guard to call off their military strike on the kaiju. The strike is done with fighter jets. The Coast Guard doesn't have fighter jets.

2. The Coast Guard person they deal with the whole movie wears a Coast Guard uniform that says "NAVY" on it, an insignia on only his left collar, and 3 stars over the word "NAVY." Neither the Navy or Coast Guard use stars.

3. The Coast Guard commander is a "General." Neither the Coast Guard or Navy has the rank of "General."

4. The "Japanese" cryptomythology professor was obviously, from appearance and speech, Latin American. She couldn't even say "kaiju," instead saying "kaihoo" since "j" is like "h" in Spanish.

5. The damned kaiju was a starfish for the love of God.

A triumph of the sci fi genre

[scholerbusiness · 9/10 · 2 June 2019]

This movie was an incredible film. It moved me. I would consider it to possibly be one of the best movies I've ever seen. A classic. The camera work was stellar; oscar winning in fact. The best parts were the close ups of all of the actors faces. It really showed the pain and trauma they were undergoing. You felt like you were right there with them. The only reason for a 9/10 would be the pacing of the movie, but all the substantive action happened in the last 40 minutes. Some of the best parts of the movie include the general, when the eggs fell, Riley's tragic ending, and the numerous phone calls between the characters.This reminds me of other great movies such as zoombies and cowboys v dinosaurs. A great way to spend two hours!!

"The Asylum" you know the Cheese is strong with this one

[dragonstar-22166 · 7/10 · 23 August 2022]

The minute you see "The Asylum" you know the Cheese is strong with this one, so go in with the right mind set and you'll enjoy it. The story is straight forward and easy to follow avoiding some of the slightly disjointed writing of the earlier movies. The acting is good enough with the B movie stalwart Eric Roberts in a secondary role (who if IMDB is to be believed have 99 projects completed, filming, in post production or in pre production not someone who likes to stand idle) The CGI is serviceable and certainly better than 'Atlantic Rim' it is a giant monster movie in the vein of their Mega shark Vs movies (can you tell I have watched way too many The Asylum movies) . If you're fan a B monster movies then it is a fun and harmless way to kill 90 minutes.

Waste of time to watch this

[jsboysen-28457 · 1/10 · 5 December 2019]

I love a good sci-fi movie but this isn't one of them. The acting reminds me of a high school play where all the actors are trying to out act the other one. They have a wimpy assistant, a know it all other assistant and a boss who shouldn't be the boss as he appears to be really dumb. There is a general who is in desperate need of a haircut who is the worst over actor ever. The monsters are poor at best so basically this is a terrible movie. If I were you I would not waste your time.

The only movie I've seen that was bad enough, that I felt I needed to review it

[amcginty-36213 · 1/10 · 3 June 2019]

This movie contained so much random stuff in it, and hardly any sort of plot to move anything forward. The characters are horribly written, and have no chemistry. Every time they interact, I couldn't help but laugh at how stiff and unnatural they felt. The special effects are entirely gross to look at. I didn't expect much from this film, but I expected more than flash levels of special effects. There is nothing interesting about any of the kaiju in this movie. The "climactic" kaiju fight at the end takes place in the last 20 minutes, and it has nothing to do with them actually fighting. They're all eyesores anyway, so whatever, but I feel they should have focused more on the monsters fighting. This movie has one redeeming quality, and that's the laughs you'll have at how bad everything is. Every scene is another scene of something stupid happening, or something stupid being said. All of this and more crap is what you can expect from this film.

Good...until the ending

[cillchaoi · 5/10 · 5 June 2019]

I watched this and really enjoyed the movie, finding it to be good, fun, easy entertainment after working hard all day. The acting was good, the special effects worked well enough to keep me focused on the action and the story. The selection of actors was great. Natalie Robbie (who played Sarah Murray) caught my eye in particular since she reminds me very much of Dana Plato (Kimberly Drummond of Diff'rent Strokes).

My only problem with the movie was the final few minutes. The build-up throughout the movie was good but then it felt like they just "capped off" the movie with a TV episode type of ending. I would have expected something like this from a down-market "monster of the week" show, not a one-off movie.

I know some folks will say, "Ahhh, but this was an Asylum film" and maybe they are right. I don't know one movie company from another. I just had higher expectations given the rest of the two hours that I had spent watching it. Oh well!

If/when it comes out on DVD, I will definitely add it to my collection. I just kind of hope that they put "alternate endings" on the disc, similar to what was done for the comedy movie "Clue" back in 1985. I'd like to see something more satisfying.