Death Island: Paranormal Retribution (2017 Video) User Reviews (6)

Really Bad Blair Witch knock off

[doorsscorpywag · 1/10 · 2 January 2018]

What the skull of the dinosaur has to do with it is unknown. Maybe they cut that bit out as it was too ambitious. Also there are no sharks in Lake Michigan.

Anyways some people go to an island to investigate some missing kids from 1989 and find a hat. The team leader keeps mentioning the word 'Project' throughout the film as a way of letting you know he is filming a documentary.

Later some blokes cooking meth jump out the woods with rifles and prove that acting under meth is a bad thing as they are terrible at it.

Then we go to an Indian gravesite in the dark for some stupid reason as surely daylight would have been better for this excursion. They then enact various scenes from BWP such as running in the dark and several of the crew crying into the camera (although with less snot) and we have some weird things on trees and a member of the group is found standing next to a tree but does not remember why.

Some more shouting and the break down of the groups bond between each other. We have some cameras tied to trees that show nothing until the climactic blurry end scenes. Which consists of more screaming and running around and what seems like the meth heads bothering the campers and then some flashes and noises and then that's it. We never find out why the hat was there!

The Blair Witch Project was a great movie this one isn't. Avoid like smallpox.

Nothing of Substance

[goddessofbling · 1/10 · 1 November 2020]

Being warned that the island is full of snakes, spiders, mosquitos, wild animals and poison ivy, the investigators are walking around in sandles,shorts and tank tops. Only once did I see any protective gear on. Wondering through the woods at night!? Really?? To what purpose or end? To get lost! Mission accomplished! We see no attempt to investigate the '89 disappearance of 4 children although they"may have" found an article that belonged to one child. Then the supposedly "meth" cookers who are stalking them with lasers scopes at night. So what happened to the investigators? We have ZERO idea. Did they disappear? Did they get back to town? Did the die?? Don't waste your time.

Indie found footage rubbish

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 6 April 2018]

DEATH ISLAND: PARANORMAL RETRIBUTION is another indie found footage horror flick about a bunch of those annoying 'paranormal investigators' who head off to a remote and supposedly haunted location. On arrival, very little happens indeed other than a few arty close-ups of faces and the like. It's a real dud and mindlessly forgettable like a million other such indie features.

Great Blubbering Snot Bubbles, Batman!

[terrymike-77740 · 1/10 · 8 September 2022]

Why does every farking "Blair Witch" wannabe/knockoff absolutely have to include the sniveling, whimpering, snot bubble close-up scene where some shuddering wretch bemoans their decision to embark upon the project that virtually everyone that they met along the way tried to warn them away from? ENOUGH ALREADY. IT'S BEEN DONE TO DEATH AND BACK AGAIN.

I watched the movie because it takes place in Michigan, and I live in Michigan. There are a few other horror movies that take place in Michigan, and were filmed here. Unfortunately, most of them are pretty awful. There was one whose title I can't immediately recall; it was about a demonic creature that was terrorizing the community of Lake Orion. That movie depicted Lake Orion as a slum bordering the city of Detroit. Lake Orion is anything but a slum, and it does NOT border Detroit. Another poor offering would be "Dogman", and the even worse sequel, "Dogman 2: Wrath of the Litter". The worst of the lot would have to be "Werewolf Island". Apparently, Michigan is riddled with paranormally plagues islands. "Death Island" isn't as bad as "Werewolf Island" is, but it's only marginally better... very marginally.

Doesn't Deserve the Bad Ratings

[arfdawg-1 · 4/10 · 16 January 2018]

The Plot. A team of supernatural researchers set out to shoot a documentary about hikers who vanished on a remote and desolate island in the Great Lakes; an island whose only inhabitants are 3,500 Native American graves. Despite repeated warnings from locals, they provoke the spirits of the dead and find themselves stranded and trapped in a vortex of Paranormal retribution.

Not sure this movie deserves the 3 star rating it's getting. I think people are upset because it sort of really IS a Blair Witch rip off. But the film itself is not all that bad, even if some of the acting is laffable. And there's really too much talking and too little action.

IMDB says the budget was a million. Hard to believe. Looks like it was made for pennies.

Some Effective Sequences Not Enough to Save Blair Witch Wannabe

[bryan-davis-keith · 5/10 · 8 January 2018]

Structurally, this film is as close to a knock-off of The Blair Witch Project as it can be, from the opening scenes with the locals to an overabundance of selfie camera shots of fear.

While the film's story of a documentary crew fighting amongst itself as the going gets tough has been done a million times over (and better), there's a few sequences in this film that are surprisingly effective. Errantly discovering two armed meth cooks, and being stalked in the pitch dark woods by men with laser-equipped firearms are scenes that top any of the tension generated by the film's paranormal storylines, and leave one wondering whether Death Island would have been better off with a more natural death.