Island Zero is a horror film about a fishing community on a remote island that finds itself suddenly realize that someone – or something – is hunting them.
Ah, the mysteries of the deep, home to all kinds of horrors that keep filmmakers well stocked with monster fodder, and over the many decades, as they’ve come to chomp on our shores, we’ve run the gamut of genre-defining creatures of the deep to cheesy Z-grade horror hokum. Josh Gerritsen‘s newest entry, Island Zero falls squarely in the middle, a solid mix of well-acted drama and formulaic toothy terror that is almost fanatically familiar yet so earnest it’s hard not to have some fun with it.
On a remote island forty miles off the coast of Maine, life is peaceful and quaint as locals make a living fishing and spending time at the only diner on the island. Marine biologist and widower Sam (Adam Wade McLaughlin), along with this teenaged daughter Allie (Elaine Landry), live here with his new journalist girlfriend Lucy (Teri Reeves). He’s busy of late as the fish seem to have all but disappeared, the collapse of the small industry a curious case that he can’t explain. However, when the daily ferry suddenly stops arriving and fishermen don’t return to the docks, things get even stranger, leaving him and interim doctor (and former soldier) Maggie (Laila Robins) to try and figure out what’s happening.
Starting in classic fashion with an eccentric character out on the water with his precious pup, who meets a bloody end, the film then switches tracks and take a more grounded approach, slowly introducing its many characters and pastural setting. Like most in this lot, it’s limited budget forces the filmmakers to stick to personalities rather than panic with nearly all of the movie spent on shore with locals dealing more with being cut off from the mainland than the monsters in the dark.
Surprisingly, this is not the weak link it would seem laid out to be, with plenty of interesting people gathered together in worry to keep this afloat. Admittedly, it strips a bit of the tension from underfoot, but does provide some hooks among the locals that manage to make the wait until things kick up a bit more tolerable. Seems our monster is not just bound to the sea and this gives the film a little extra punch as there is no safe place. What’s more, the real monster might not be at all what they think it is.
With the creatures frustratingly absent for nearly the entire movie though (and a gimmick that helps keep them less visible), Island Zero feels a bit underwhelming as we are witness mostly only to aftermath than attack. Still, even as it plays close to the vest it does have some good ideas and even a kind of dark twist per se that sort of makes sense. Naturally, it manages to layer in some requisite global warming warnings along the way as well. This all leaves the film probably divisive for many, with some appreciating the low-key talking aspects while others unforgiving of the absence of mayhem.
Written by Tess Gerritsen, the Gerritsen’s feature film debut is a smart story that wisely doesn’t try to overstretch itself by aimlessly stuffing their film with poor CGI and inane action, instead working with their constraints to a create more esoteric thriller. Ending on a stronger note than where it starts, Island Zero is one of those movies that certainly entertains, though one can’t help but wonder what would it be like with more money behind it.