Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I'd been after this movie for some years as I am a fan of this type of film and Peter Cushing. I recently obtained a VHS copy off E-bay.A young man and a professor head on an expedition to an island just bought by his uncle. Lots of dangers lurk on the island including a volcano, unfriendly natives and, best of all, some rather shoddy looking monsters, more of them later. They also befriend a chimp and a native. Then, towards the end, the uncle comes to the island where I was taken by surprise with the ending...Now to those monsters, these include some seaweed men who attack the ship, a giant horned beast that looks similar to one that appeared in At Earth's Core (also starring Peter Cushing), giant rubber caterpillars and some humanoid large eyed creatures. Certainly not prehistoric monsters as I've read in some reviews.Despite being top billed, Peter Cushing and Terence Stamp (Superman 2) only appear in the movie for a few minutes at the beginning and the end. David Hatton plays the professor, rather annoying at times.In all though, I found this movie great fun.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

I give this trainwreck a "7" just because the group I watched it with had such a good time HOWLING with laughter at how horrible it all was - everything is wrong - the direction, the acting, the "special" effects, etc. Two vets like Stamp and Cushing take the money and run - they are barely in it - the two male leads are like oil and water - one guy is dead eyed and no energy and the other David Hatton overacts so much you are stunned at the hammy performance. He must have known how bad the thing was so he decided to give a 1000% to make up for the lame script and bad effects - he acts with his eyes, he acts with his eyebrows, he acts with his MOUSTACHE - he plays the nervous, sniveling kind of sissy character that was very popular in comedies from 1930's and 1940's (Edward Everret Horton usually played them) but the thing is.....THIS MOVIE IS MADE IN THE 1980's!!!! We laughed so hard when the "dinosaur" monster finally showed up - it is so bad, so not real, so not scary that we saluted the filmmaker for even yelling "Action" - wow - is it lame and then the scene where they encounter giant caterpillars is also unintentionally hilarious. So for fans of Grade Z cheese, pull up a chair and laugh - for those looking for a good old fashioned Jules Verne adventure - you are out of luck,.

Monster Island starts in San Francisco where the richest man in America William T. Kolderup (Peter Cushing) has just brought an island in an auction, meanwhile his daughter Meg's (Ana Obregon) fiancé Jeff (Ian Sera) says that he wants to travel the world to find adventure & leave her behind, for a while. So, along with his bumbling teacher Thomas Artelect (David Hatton) Jeff sets sail to, well whatever he plans to do. However events take a turn for the worse when the ship they are sailing in is attacked by sea creatures & is sunk, both Jeff & Thomas end up washed ashore a mysterious island where they have to fend for themselves. The local perils include monsters, dinosaurs, erupting volcanoes, native cannibals & a bunch of mean pirates who want to get they're grubby filthy little hands on the islands underground deposits of gold...This Spanish American co-production was co-written, produced & directed by Juan Piquer Simon & is a really, really bad film. The script by Simon, Ron Grantman & Joaquin Grau was apparently based upon the novel Mysterious Island by Jules Verne which it never at any point resembles apart from the fact that there's an island in both stories. Where to start? I think Monster Island is a film that needs to be seen to have any idea just how embarrassingly bad it is. Right lets start with the stupid comic & slapstick tone & nature of the thing, it's all so childish & frankly silly that it isn't exciting in the slightest. Some of the stuff in this has to be seen to be believed, a home made tommy gun which fires bananas at the bad guys! There are comedy fight scenes, some terrible looking monsters & they even throw in a 'cute' animal sidekick which seems to have more intelligence than any of the human character's. Which brings me nicely to Thomas Artelect, yes it's true he is quite possibly the most annoying character ever committed to the silver screen. Talk about getting on your nerves, I think I'd rather have my teeth pulled out with pliers than have to put up with this buffoon anymore. I'd have thrown him into the volcano... Then there's the lame so-called twist ending which I figured out within twenty minutes, the stupid plot hole in which William could never have known or guaranteed Jeff & Thomas would have been washed ashore his island I mean what if they had drowned in the sea? What would he have said to his daughter Meg? Would he have said 'sorry love but my plan went wrong & now your fiancé is dead at the bottom of the ocean'? Well would he? The bad guys are dumb enough to be defeated by some bananas & coconuts & unless your under five your simply going to think it's the most stupid thing you've ever seen & quite possibly it is. This ones a bit of a stinker although it moves along at a fair pace & is harmless enough but, well, it's bad & there's no two ways about it.Director Simon has no talent & Monster Island proves it, there's no style, no excitement, it's incredibly badly made with a really cheap & nasty look & feel to it throughout & it's just so predictable. He throws in that awful twist ending & five minutes later everyone is walking off into the sunset like nothing ever happened, the whole film is badly thought out, poorly written & contains some of the worst monster effects ever. From awful giant caterpillars to a dinosaur that looks like it was made from wool. Jurassic Park (1992) this ain't! Lets not forget the seaweed people who are obviously just poor actors with seaweed placed over them, at least their faces are covered to spare any more embarrassment.I'm not sure what sort of budget this had, probably not huge. Monster Island is pretty inept from start to finish, again anyone under five is going to have a hard time sitting through this one to the end. I have to mention the music as the main theme tune which gets used repeatedly is annoying as hell, I hated it & it along with many other aspects of Monster Island grated my nerves. I'm sure fine actors like both Peter Cushing or Terence Stamp wouldn't boast about being in this & despite their top billing on the credits each only has about five or tens minutes worth of screen time, luckily for them. I have to mention David Hatton as Thomas, along with the character being horrible his performance is truly dire, I don't know what else to say I really don't.Monster Island, also known as Mystery on Monster Island, is a terrible film & it's as simple & straight forward as that. This is a film which insults the intelligence of adults & kids alike, probably safe to give this one a miss.

(Note: I've also seen this title appear on the Sci-Fi channel, but they have edited some scenes out—as well as most of the credits—to make more room for advertising time. Regardless of the movie, this is not fair to the artists who worked on it, or the viewers who wish to see it. It unfortunately seems to be an increasingly common practice in the industry.)I'm not going to try to defend this movie on objective grounds from the criticism that I'm not surprised to see it has received. It certainly has its share of corniness, clichés, questionable acting performances, and low-production values. And while I can certainly understand those who brand it as a laughably bad movie, it does have a few things going for it. The musical score, while weak in parts, actually has a few strong numbers in it; much of the natural scenery is very beautiful; and a couple of the acting performances were overall very well done. But these things aside, I would imagine that most viewers would think this movie to be a poor one.Despite its flaws, though, this movie is without question my all-time favorite out of all of my cinematic experiences (which are both quite plentiful and quite broad). Granted, this is largely (if not wholly) due to the fact that I first saw it when I was four years old seventeen years ago, and thus carries with it both nostalgic value and perceptions that have not left me since. I watched it frequently (sometimes every day) for a number of years. In the eyes of a child—at least in my case—the corniness, low-production values, and general execution of the directing didn't matter. The movie possessed a magical sense of adventure and exploration. It was thrilling, otherworldly, and full of risks and discoveries.In response to some of the others who've commented here: To suggest that the movie approaches any racist undertones is, I think, misunderstanding the movie and needlessly politicizing it. The character of Carefinatu and the tribesmen are indeed cliché and exaggerated. But as the true manner of the plot becomes apparent towards the end of the movie, such characterization and setting is clearly understandable. Besides, it's just part of the nature of the movie itself.As an interesting note, I believe that the audio samples used for the 'whistling caterpillar' monsters were actually taken from recordings of a certain species of monkey.