A teacher and his students find a secluded island isn’t as empty as they thought when they face off against an insane trio of brothers in 1985’s The Island, directed by Po-Chih Leong and released by Eureka on Blu-Ray.
CW: Sexual assault
The Island (1985) comes to Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka’s Masters of Cinema collection.
What a wild flick. Directed by Po-Chih Leong, written by Kei Shu, and produced by legendary actor, producer, and stuntman Sammo Hung, The Island is a well-polished, great-looking, but gritty and uncomfortable, trip of terror. A teacher takes his students to a secluded and thought to be empty island off of Hong Kong. But what they find instead are three brothers, each on various degrees of sanity and dangerousness. One of the girls catches the eye of the youngest, most unstable brother, and it becomes a fight for the other side to get what they want: a bride or to merely survive.
The Island, unrelated to the Michael Bay movie (that one is a remake of Parts: The Clonus Horror) or the Michael Caine-led Peter Benchley adaptation, is a thrilling sort of mix, or at least derives inspiration from, of Deliverance, Rituals, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Troma’s Mother’s Day, and The Hills Have Eyes. The influences are worn on its sleeve, but note that it is a less visceral film than that gritty, grotesque collection. It holds enough weight and push to be absolutely compelling on its own, sans “if you like… check out this…” comparisons.
The crux is the back-and-forth, where it will go, who will break first, and how they will deal with the madness. The boat returns in two days. Who will make it through? The brothers are wild characters. Lung Chn, Jing Chen, and Billy Sau Tat Ching are a joy to watch as Tai-Fat, Yee-Fat, and Sam-Fat in unbridled and unhinged performances. The students are a little less so, outside of the featured kids, mostly filling in background sameness (this is noted on both commentaries, nice when my notes line up), but have their moments. They acquit themselves well for being mostly non-actors. Their teacher, Mr. Cheung, is played by John Sham, who is fantastic.
It sags a bit, but just a bit, in the middle section as we wait for the brothers to make their move more directly after pushing limits (but we know their absility to damage thanks to a impressive opening sequence), and even then once it gets going there’s a lot of “hunker down and see” but there is a tension with the intense cat and mouse. Especially as it ramps up and the teacher and students fight back. There is some unnerving, nasty stuff (including some sexual assault).
I love the way this was shot. Many quick cuts, close-ups, and suddenly back out, moving around with speed, often give an Evil Dead energy when things are moving. It’s uncomfortable and thrilling. The overall cinematography by Poon Hang-sang is beautiful to watch, with some gorgeous shots of the island, its people, and its locales.
The Island is an exciting Hong Kong near-grindhouse grit. While reminiscent of its influences, it makes a great turn on its own with the tale of survival.
The transfer is nice, and it looks great. Especially at night. As noted, the cinematography is great, and it really pops in so many scenes.
The only available language is the original Cantonese, with English subtitles.
The disc contains two commentaries.
The first is East Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng from the NY Asian Film Festival. He gives a thorough, detailed look back, speaking of the industry of Hong Kong cinema, the culture and history behind the film, and inspirations for the film.
The other is Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, two experts on Hong Kong Cinema. Based on their comments, they’ve done a few of these for Eureka. Their talk is broader, giving a wider view of everything around the film, where it falls into the canon, along with the histories of everyone involved (a continued joke/notation is that everyone either has 2 acting roles or hundreds). The pair of commentaries does well to serve the detail and the overview.
Tony Ryns on The Island (17m); Raynes gives an insightful look at the film, especially how it relates to 70s American cinema (particularly Wes Craven), and of the cinema surrounding it.
Surviving the Shoot (22m) An interview with the director from a showing or convention. Insightful and honest about this film and others he’s made (one of which is also released on this sub-label, “Hong Kong 1941”)
A booklet contains an overview of the director’s career and an interview with the same. The well-written essay and interview build on what’s on the AV supplements.
The Island comes as part of the Masters of Cinema collection, presented through Eureka! It comes in a standard Blu-ray case with a slip cover. The case contains a single disc and a booklet. The slipcover features new art by Ilan Shead, and the plastic case has the original poster. Spine #324. Region A/B
