This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Fantasy Island
Written by Roberto Leal
Dateline: San Antonio, Texas
Speaking of island…
Yesterday, I was having lunch at the Sea Island Restaurant with a group of friends. I asked one of them, Millennial Millie, if she remembered the old TV show, Fantasy Island. She looked at me with that puzzled look that so many of her generation get whenever asked a historical or cultural reference question that goes back more than five years.
Well, old geezers like me, certainly remember Fantasy Island, the TV show, with Latino Legend, Ricardo Montalban, and his diminutive sidekick, Hervé Villechaize. Every Saturday from 1977 to 1984, Montalban, as Mr. Roarke, and Villechaize, as Tattoo would greet a plane load of guests to the resort island with Tattoo announcing their arrival by ringing the bell, pointing to the sky and proclaiming: “Ze plane. Ze plane.”
Then it dawned on me. Millennial Millie was born in 1984, so, of course, the iconic TV show never crossed her cultural radar screen or Smart Phone. But I was looking forward to the movie remake, which premiered today. My interest was piqued by a recent GQ Magazine article hailing the Sony Picture and Blumhouse production remake as “2020’s First Great Horror Movie.” Blumhouse is the studio that made us wet our collective movie-going pants with two recent horror hits: Us and Get Out.
Fantasy Island director, Jeff Wadlow had previously teamed up with writers, Jillian Jackson and Chris Roach on 2019’s Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare, a spooky offering with a similar motif as this re-incarnation of Fantasy Island: a seemingly harmless and promising beginning turns horribly bad for the unsuspecting participants. Wadlow also directed the TV series, Bates Motel, so this creative team knows from scary.
But what about Mr. Roarke?
Michael Peña has been given the difficult task of resurrecting one of TV’s most memorable, enigmatic and mysterious TV characters: Mr. Roarke. For me, one of the most enduring mysteries about Mr. Roarke, was how the character, as played by Montalban, the suave, courtly Mexican with the cultured accent wound up with an Irish last name, running a resort for dreamers on a remote, tropical island.
But Peña proves to be a good choice. The son of Mexican immigrants, Peña’s Mr. Roarke, retains that aura of mystery, but in a younger, cooler, hipper persona. Peña has an extensive and impressive filmography. I especially liked him in War on Everyone, (2016).
In a YouTube interview, Peña reflected on the challenge of playing Mr. Roarke and his approach to the part.
Back in the misty, prehistoric TV days of yore, Mr. Roarke would grant the guests their fantasies, with a price, of course. The episodes were frequently morality plays. The price of those fantasies was often a dark, unhappy ending for the guests.
However, in this updated rendition of Fantasy Island, Mr. Roarke grants each of the guests one fantasy, but they must follow the rules of the island. They must pursue their fantasy, no matter where they lead, to its logical conclusion. But when the fantasies inevitably turn into nightmares, the guests must solve the island’s mystery in order to escape with their lives.
The story follows the various fantasies as each one grows darker and creepier. Things start to get confusing as the fantasies overlap with each other and wind up merging. Eventually, after a series of hair-raising, often violent, sequences, the fantasies, in the end, reach a logical conclusion, with a surprise twist.
Fantasy Island is a fast-paced, action, adventure, horror, thriller, laced with moments of humor. The youthful, attractive cast headed by Peña, along with Lucy Hale, Maggie Q. and Portia Doubleday, will appeal to those younger movie-goers who don’t remember the original TV show.
So, to Millennial Millie: “Welcome to Fantasy Island“. To my fellow, aging, creaky, sometimes cranky, Baby Boomers, who loved the TV show: Welcome Back to Fantasy Island. But be careful what you wish for, in this version of Fantasy Island, you arrive on a plane, but you could leave in a body bag.
FANTASY ISLAND
Sony Pictures / Blumhouse
Rated PG-13
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Screenwriters: Jillian Jackson, Chris roach