{"id":32193,"date":"2025-10-09T17:08:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T00:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32193"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:08:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T00:08:06","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-island-1985","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32193","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE ISLAND (1985)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This film will be available on Blu-ray as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d from Eureka Entertainment on October 28th.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When many think of the Hong Kong film industry, they\nnaturally think of industry giants like Jackie Chan, or filmmakers in the vein\nof John Woo and Tsui Hark, who specialized in high energy action and martial\narts movies. But like any other country making films, they dabbled in other\ngenres. One of the more unusual and eccentric titles of its era is The\nIsland<\/em>, aka Sang Sei Sin<\/em> from Po-Chih Leong. He helmed the\nwell-regarded Jumping Ash<\/em>, the amazingly-titled Banana Cop<\/em> and,\nthe previous year, the hit period drama Hong Kong 1941<\/em> with Chow\nYun-Fat. Unlike his other efforts, this is a survival horror picture in the\nvein of The Hills Have Eyes<\/em> and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/em> (with\na nod or two to genre pictures like Friday the 13th<\/sup><\/em>). It is\nalso one that, at times, includes comedic elements(!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s certainly nothing like it in this part of the world\nand I\u2019d imagine Hong Kong as well. The Island<\/em> wasn\u2019t a big hit in its\nhomeland either and serves as something of a low-budget experiment from a\nrelatively new production outfit called D & B Films (started by Dickson\nPoon, John Sham and Sammo Hung) that was looking for create a wider variety of product\nthan the typical commercial action\/comedies that were headlining every cinema.\nThis was not that kind of a film. The movie couldn\u2019t find its audience, and it\nhas become a hard title to track down. But the film does have a completely\nunique tone and genre fans should check it out. Now Eureka Entertainment is\ndelivering this fascinatingly bizarre yet strangely accomplished chiller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story involves Hong Kong resident and high school\ngeography teacher Mr. Cheung (John Sham) taking six students on a 2-day retreat\nto an island. As it is explained in the extra features, after high school\npupils write their final exams, they have to wait several weeks for the\nresults. This results in a lot of stress. So, that\u2019s why the teacher takes them\nto a remote island with a sandy beach \u2013 he\u2019s helping them get some rest and\nrelaxation before starting a new chapter. Unfortunately, after arriving they\ncome across the island\u2019s only residents, the three simple-minded\nbrothers\/shop-owners Tai-Fat (Lung Chan), Yee-Fat (Jing Chen), Sam-Fat (Billy\nSau Yat Ching). They live with their sickly mother (Lap Ban Chan). These\nresidents have no intention of leaving the area and have secretly kidnapped a\nwoman trying to immigrate from China to Hong Kong, whom they plan to marry off\nto Sam-Fat. This is so that they can produce descendants and stay in possession\nof the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When they see young Phyllis (Hoi-Lun Au), they see her as a\nmore suitable partner for simpleton Sam-Fat, and so their plans change. They\ninvite themselves into the group, who initially tolerate their presence. Early\nscenes involve a lot of comedy, with the brothers having extreme traits and\nbehaving in an exaggerated manner. Sam-Fat has a consistently running nose and\nis poked fun at for using his teeth to help open soda bottles (it is a strange\nbut funny scene). Yet, brief flashes of violence soon appear. Mr. Cheung\nattempts to keep things calm and talk his way out of trouble, but tension soon\nrises as the brothers become more aggressive. The siblings ultimately go on the\noffensive and violence breaks out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, after a disturbing opening involving the three\ntormenting their captive, the film takes a sharp turn into comedy, with the\nteacher and kids enjoying their vacation. The humor and verbal jabs between the\nteens early on almost fools one into thinking they\u2019re watching a broad comedy\nor horror parody. This is true even initially when the brothers appear. Yee-Fat\nbugs his eyes out and laughs maniacally, and Sam-Fat, the youngest and slowest\nsibling, follows Phyllis around like a puppy dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But it isn\u2019t long before it all feels threatening. The\nvisiting group tries to maintain the peace (for perhaps a bit too long), but\nthe tone does change significantly. Nothing is explicitly shown, but there are\nnumerous violent acts (including a sexual assault on the initial kidnapping\nvictim). Mr. Cheung does realize that the group of brothers are going to kill\nand\/or kidnap them, and tries to protect them from the onslaught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The attack scenes make up the final half-hour and are\nimpressive. These villains use spikey sea urchins used as weapons, as well as\nbattering rams, rusty blades and gasoline\/flames and its intense. The visuals\ntowards the end, involving slain characters laid out on a tree in the middle of\na bog, is striking. And one big plus in the movie that is unusual for its era\nis that the women fight back effectively against their attackers. The teacher\nis ineffectual for long periods, and the teenage boys take a nasty beating, but\nPhyllis is a compelling character who, at times, goes toe-to-tie with the\nantagonists. In general, the ladies in this tale come off as far more capable\nthan their male counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an odd picture that features some weird tonal shifts\nand surreal episodes, but it is surprisingly well-made and eventually delivers\nplenty of action that will intrigue and grip horror fans. You can see its\nAmerican horror influences clearly in certain sections, but the filmmaker is\ndelivering his own eccentric spin on them, making the movie a fascinating\ncuriosity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The image quality on the disc is shockingly strong. As\nbizarre as the story is, the movie ended up winning Best Cinematography at the\nHong Kong cinema awards and a great deal of care was taken with the transfer.\nIt received a 2K restoration and looks incredibly sharp. It doesn\u2019t hurt that\nthere is a lot of location photography in interesting locales filmed both\nduring the day and at night. Light streams through cracks in the dilapidated\nbuildings featured in the narrative, and later sections (including a vibrant\ndream sequence) involve striking red filters. The villains light multiple fires\nat night to try and push their prey out of hiding places, and it all pops off\nthe screen. This is one of the best-looking discs I\u2019ve seen from Eureka\nEntertainment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extras are also entertaining and informative. There are two\ngreat commentary tracks. One includes East Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng, who\ngoes into the background of how the picture came together. He gives a lot of\nHong Kong history that definitely adds a level of subtext to the movie. In\nparticular, the speaker notes that this movie was definitely trying to deal\nwith class and politics. There is a lot of mention on the radio of a government\nland development body moving in (they were a real organization formed with the\nChinese government takeover of British Hong Kong territory arriving in the late\n1990s), and the expert goes into what this all meant and how it ties into the\nbehavior of the isolated family. There is also class conflict between the\nteacher and kids, who are from Hong Kong, and the family, who can be seen to a\ndegree as Chinese mainlanders. All of the information helps one get a deeper\nunderstanding of what the filmmaker may have been trying to say in the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The genre cinema commentary track with Mike Leeder and Arne\nVenema is also a lot of fun. Conversational and humorous, they also talk about the\nunusual casting and some of the distinctive elements of the film. They aren\u2019t\nafraid to poke good-natured fun at some of the oddities in the story and\nsituations, while also offering great insight into the production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an interview with Tony Rayns on the picture.\nAgain, he gives history into what inspired the movie and its references. It\ndoes seem that D & B Films started as a company making interesting and\nuncommercial projects that were critical hits. Eventually, they realized that\nto survive, they also had to adapt and create more films that would find\ngreater box office success with the general public. He does note that this\noddball effort does offer some twists on the horror formula and surprises at\npoints, deviating at times from the slasher film formula. Again, viewers will\nlearn a great deal about the Hong Kong film industry during this talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another bonus is an interview with director Po-Chih Leong from 2023 following a screening of the movie with an enthusiastic crowd. The filmmaker talks about the unusual production. He notes that while Hung and others are listed as producers, they were not involved directly in the picture. Leong talks about some of the names behind the scenes and how they were involved (one notable actress is listed, and it turns out that she helped in finding and casting the youngsters in the picture), as well as the difficulty in shooting on location, but also how much fun it was. Despite being in his late 80s, Leong is spry and very funny. He\u2019s also still working in various capacities, hoping to put together more film projects in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Island<\/em> is one of the more obscure and odd genre\nfilms you\u2019re likely to see. That means it\u2019s wonderful that Eureka Entertainment\nhave done such a great job transferring it to Blu-ray. It looks incredible and\nwill definitely make a lasting impression on anyone interested in it. If you\nare a fan of 1970s and 1980s horror titles like The Hills Have Eyes<\/em> and\ndon\u2019t mind seeing a very bizarre spin on the formula, you should definitely\npick it up!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This film will be available on Blu-ray as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d from Eureka Entertainment on October 28th. When many think of the Hong Kong film industry, they naturally think of industry giants like Jackie Chan, or filmmakers in the vein of John Woo and Tsui Hark, who specialized in high energy action and martial arts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[117,697,2923,2928,4660,7100,9288,9319,9974,16190,19401,21154,21155,21156,21159],"class_list":["post-32193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-117","tag-action","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-comedy","tag-eureka-entertainment","tag-hong-kong","tag-horror","tag-island","tag-po-chih-leung","tag-survival-horror","tag-the-island","tag-the-island-blu-ray-review","tag-the-island-film-review","tag-the-island-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}