The Island — The Island( Blu Ray)
The Island is a derranged redneck thriller/survival horror, Hong Kong Style. The mid-80s films start off fairly wacky/ light comedic, but as it progresses, things become more deranged and murderous. Here from Eureka is the first time release outside of Asia of the film, with a new 2k scan, two new commentaries, and a few other things.
The Island ( Life and Death, Sang Sei Sin) is from the year 1985. It was directed by Northampton UK-born Po-Chih Leong. Between the mid 70’s and late 2010’s he had nineteen features to his name. These went from cook, swallows a secret microfilm action drama Foxbat (1977), comedy drama Ping Pong (1986), and cursed doll horror Baby Blues (2013).
The film focuses on white bucket-hatted, bespeckled, and rather eccentric teacher Mr. Cheung(John Sham)- who is taking a selection of six or so late teen students for a study break on what they think is an abandoned island.
For the first twenty or so minutes, the film has a very lightly comedic/ playful air, as the awkward Cheung has back and forth with his students. They take in back talking/ Rambo want to be, geeky glasses wearing teen, and a few others.
But as they start making their way around the island, they bump into the Hawaiian shirt-wearing, moustached, and constantly chuckling Yee-Fat(Jing Chen). He seems friendly/ helpful enough, and in time the group meet his other two brothers- the gruff/set-faced Tai-Fat(Lung Chan), and gap-toothed, snotty nosed with leaning difficulties Sam-Fat(Billy Sau Yat Ching).
As things unfold, it becomes clear that the sometimes crossdressing Sam-Fat, has his eyes on one of the female students, wanting to marry her, if she turns out to be a virgin. The remainder of the film finds Cheung and his student fighting back against the attacks from the brother- some of these are lightly bloody edged, though really it’s fairly tame, and I’d say, aside from moments of creepiness/disquiet, it plays more like a thriller.
All three brothers are entertaining in their deranged redneckness. Sham is entertainingly bumbling/ odd at first, later showing he really cares about his students' teacher. But I’m afraid most of the students are rather flat/unmemorable.
The Island is sold as a Hong Kong take on The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Deliverance, and similar fare. Yes, you can see the nods/connections with these western films- but this is a lot tamer- initially feeling quite light, then later shifting into thriller/ come light horror, and I was surprised it got an 18 cert- as by today's standard it is very tame.
The Blu-ray is region-free. It features a 2k scan of the film- this is nicely clean and bright, with great clarity and depth throughout.
Extras-wise, there are a few things. First on the new side, we have two commentary tracks- one is with East Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng, and the second is with genre cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. I played the first of these-Mr Djeng opens up, informing us that the film has been rarely seen in Hong Kong since its release. We find out it was shown for just a week in the cinema on release, with a 3.8 million HK $, landing at number forty-five in the year's box office. He talks about how lead John Sham is playing against type- he normally plays more cowardly/ whiney types. He points out actors as they appear, and moments of atmosphere. He discusses why he thinks the film didn’t do well at the box office- basically because of its early light/ comedic tone. He talks about the island it’s set on, which is on the most eastern part of Hong Kong- it’s only 1.6km square, and is largely uninhabited. Later on, he talks about how none of the students stand out in the film. He discusses the use of the colour red in the film, which in Hong Kong is normally a positive colour for weddings. He talks about the school system in Hong Kong, and much more. All in all, it’s an interesting/ informative track, with some nice moments of humour.
The only other new extra on the disc finds genre commentator Tony Rayns( 16.57) discussing the film. On the archive side, we have Surviving the Shoot (22.34) a 2023 interview with director Po-Chih.
The finished release comes with a booklet featuring an interview with Po-Chih Leong and revised introduction notes on The Island by film writer, producer and film festival executive Roger Garcia.
It’s certainly nice to see The Island getting this first release outside of Asia. Yes, it’s a tad tame by Western horror standards, but it’s interesting to see how these influences were fed through & morphed by Hong Kong sensibilities. This Eureka release takes in a nice 2k scan and a fair selection of extras.