The Isle (2018) Review – A Dull and Drowning Siren’s Song
The Isle: Quick Verdict
The Verdict: A visually competent but narratively hollow period drama that fails to justify its existence as a horror film. The Isle (2018) succeeds in its production design and cinematography, capturing the raw beauty of its Scottish setting, but founders on the rocks of turgid pacing and some genuinely abysmal acting. While Alex Hassell provides a professional anchor, the supporting cast often descends into unintentional comedy, particularly during scenes of high emotional stakes. The siren mythology is underutilised, traded for a repetitive mystery that lacks both tension and terror. This 1.5 star effort is a frustratingly dull experience that likely relied on fake review bundles to mask its obvious flaws. It is a pretty, but ultimately empty, waste of time. It is a shipwreck of a movie.
Details: Director: Matthew Butler-Hart | Cast: Alex Hassell, Fisayo Akinade, Tori Butler-Hart, Conleth Hill | Runtime: 1h 36m | Release Date: 2018
Best for: Viewers who enjoy pretty scenery and period-accurate costumes but have a very high tolerance for slow, non-scary “horror” movies.
Worth noting: Despite the film’s marketing, the user and critic scores on major platforms suggest a significant disparity, often a hallmark of inorganic review practices.
Where to Watch: VOD, Amazon🛒
Rating: 1.5/5 Stars
(A masterfully shot but narratively turgid period mystery that fails to deliver on its horror premise, hampered further by some truly hilarious instances of bad acting.)
Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are checking out the period horror movie The Isle (2018).
Highlights
A fantasy period horror movie
The Isle is a fantasy horror movie set on a Scottish island. It is based, at least loosely, around the Greek tale of Sirens. For those of you who don’t know, Sirens are creatures that use their beautiful song, and alluring appearance, to lure sailors. They bewitch them, guiding them into rocks. When the sailors follow the Sirens, they drag them to the ocean floor.
The Isle follows three merchant sailors, Oliver (Alex Hassell), Cailean (Fisayo Akinade) and Jim. Their ship has been wrecked a few miles off of land. They jump into a lifeboat and manage to sail away from the ship. Unsure of where they are headed, the three row aimlessly towards a small Scottish island unaware that it plays host to an ancient evil that will soon threaten to tear them apart.
Before I start, I should just point out the number of fake reviews for this movie on IMDb. They all use buzzwords and repeat the same phrases, almost to a comical degree. How do I know The Isle has paid for fake ratings en masse? Well, the user score for this film is 4.9/10 and the unweighted mean score is 7.5/10. That means that IMDb has deemed the vast majority of positive reviews to be completely fake and untrustworthy so slapped the movie into a bit of a ratings purgatory.
Oh and all the 10s and 9s come from the USA… Dead giveaway. Always filter by the UK if you want to see an accurate picture of what people think. It actually used to be a lot lower than 4.9 but it has bounced in recent years. They have done the same on Rotten Tomatoes too with the audience score. These companies basically sell bundles of ratings on all the popular sites and idiot production teams fall for it. I hate seeing this with horror. It’s so deceptive but at least it backfired on these numpties. Put a quarter in your ass, guys.
Once again, not horror
Well, this is, once again, a drama, fantasy movie masquerading as a horror. The front cover hints at something the movie fails to deliver on. The majority of the film’s runtime is spent engaging in a loose tale of romance and revenge themed around a murder that happened years before. The sailors find help, the help seems a bit odd, they explore the island, the women act strange, and bad shit starts to happen. It’s rote, dull, and very uninspiring.
“The Isle is, potentially, the least ‘horror’ of the drama heavy horror movies I have reviewed lately. It has virtually no scares outside of some atmospheric night time scenes.”
The Isle‘s antagonist is basically a manifestation of the revenge we mentioned earlier. It pushes itself as an old fashioned folk tale focusing on Sirens and how they lure sailors to their death but it strays from that pretty early on. Alas, in the end, The Isle leaves you wishing they had just kept things simple. Stick to the Sirens, stick to the horror, and keep the drama stuff in the background. In my opinion, I think they were out of their depth.
Just to reply to some of the obviously paid and affiliated reviews that say this movie was never intended to be horror. I would actually say that The Isle was thoroughly intended to be a horror movie. The execution is just so poor that it doesn’t come across at all. There are elements in The Isle that are quintessentially horror. We have a spooky island with a ghostly antagonist that is seeking vengeance and yada yada. It is clear that this was intended to be a horror movie. It’s just not very good at actually being a horror movie. It’s not scary, lacks atmosphere, and the story is just not that interesting.
Some terrible acting
Wow, some of the acting in The Isle is among the worst I have seen in a long, long time. Dicken Tyrrell as Fingal and Conleth Hill as Douglas, in particular, have some absolutely hilarious moments of terrible acting. They had me laughing way too hard for a horror movie. Dicken Tyrrell has literally one facial expression that he uses for every scenario in the movie.
“Some of the acting in The Isle is among the worst I have seen in a long, long time. Dicken Tyrrell and Conleth Hill have some absolutely hilarious moments of terrible acting.”
Potential spoiler here I suppose but this scene bears mention. Fingal and Douglas stand over the mutilated body of a young woman. She has clearly been sexually assaulted and murdered by a member of their community. The way they discuss what has happened and what they should do about it is hilarious. They stand over this poor girl’s corpse mulling the ramifications of telling the villagers. All the while never changing facial expression even once. It is positively side-splitting.
They could be talking about someone taking a shit in the middle of the village bowling green for how little they care. Apparently nobody shouted “CUT” and reminded the actors that they have just found the body of an innocent young woman brutally murdered. Perhaps they should attempt to emote a little.
Not everyone is terrible, though. Alex Hassell as Oliver is actually really good. Fisayo Akinade, as Cailean Ferris, is likeable and easy to sympathise with. Tori Butler-Hart has at least three different facial expressions to rotate through. That’s actually pretty impressive by The Isle‘s standards. Everyone else is somewhere in-between awful and high school drama production.
A few good points
The cinematography here is actually pretty damn good. The location is gorgeous and a lot of the shots legitimately do the scenery justice. For a low budget movie, The Isle actually looks quite nice. The period clothes and styles are very believable and well done.
It does a good job of reflecting the time period it is supposed to be representing. Make up isn’t overused, either, so everyone, women included, looks suitably weathered. They actually look as if they have lived their lives on a Scottish island. It’s nice to not see a Hollywood sheen covering everything.
“I love slow burn movies but The Isle promises something in its first 20 minutes that it never even comes close to delivering on. It’s just not a very good movie.”
I did feel pretty drawn in to the plot for the first 20 minutes or so. Acting from the sailors was fairly good. The mystery of the island was set up in a way that was at least somewhat compelling. I genuinely wanted to know what was causing the folk to act so strange. As the movie went on, however, that interest completely waned.
It felt as though the director was treating the audience as a proverbial cat and kept pulling the string away. It got to the point where I just didn’t care anymore. When finally offered that piece of string I had found something more interesting to entertain me. In this case it was the hilariously bad acting and attempts at scares.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The Good
- Stunning Cinematography: The film makes excellent use of its Scottish island location, providing some genuinely beautiful and atmospheric frames.
- Production Design: The period-accurate costumes and weathered, Hollywood-free aesthetic create a believable 19th-century world.
- Alex Hassell: Delivers a professional and grounded performance as Oliver, standing head and shoulders above much of the supporting cast.
The Bad
- Terrible Acting: Several key supporting performances are so wooden and emotionless that they turn serious moments into unintentional comedy.
- Identity Crisis: The film struggles to balance its drama and fantasy elements, ultimately failing to register as a horror movie in any meaningful way.
- Pacing Issues: A dull and repetitive middle act makes the 96-minute runtime feel considerably longer and more taxing than it should be.
The Ugly: The Corpse Conversation. A sequence where characters discuss a brutal murder while displaying all the emotional intensity of a damp tea towel.
Should You Watch The Isle?
No. It is a 1.5 star film that offers very little reward for the time invested. While the scenery is gorgeous and the initial setup shows promise, the technical and narrative failures—particularly the abysmal acting and lack of scares—make it impossible to recommend. If you are looking for atmospheric folk-horror or siren mythology, there are far better options available that don’t resort to the same turgid pacing and inorganic review hype. It is a visual treat that sinks rapidly.
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