Uninhabited   Starring: Geraldine Hakewill, Henry James and Billy Milionis G2 Pictures RRP: £15.99 G2P043 Certificate: 15 Available 15 August 2011

A young couple charter a boat to drop them off on an uninhabited island on the Great Barrier Reef, and arrange to be collected in ten days time. It’s a paradise setting, and at first they find joy in each others arms. However, they soon begin to find footprints close to their camp, and wake to find their belongings have been sorted through. When they realise the satellite phone has disappeared - their only way to call for help - it appears to coincide with the arrival of a couple of men in a small boat. The young man, Harry, foolishly chooses to confront them, but when the newcomers meet a curiously sticky end, he and his lover, Beth, begin to realise there is another presence on the island. It is then that they discover a shack and a grave...

On the surface, this is a pretty good premise. The idea of an idyllic location becoming a place of danger is a powerful contrast, and something which has been both exploited many times on screen, and experienced in reality with flesh-eating cannibals inhabiting a newly discovered land. There is intrigue and suspense aplenty all the while the couple are finding worrying little anomalies. A real prickly horror moment comes in the form of film recorded on their own camcorder, showing the couple asleep in their tent.

It is then that the film begins to lose its way. I’ll readily accept that I’ve viewed a great many horror and mystery movies in my time, but I’ll wager that even casual viewers won’t be fooled into believing the men on the boat are responsible for all their troubles. When we are given a little background into the atrocity which took place on the island many years before, Uninhabited attempts to turn itself into a supernatural tale. But if the perpetrator is a ghost, why does she leave footprints?

So, this is a logical point to summarise by saying, although this is by no means a bad film it does struggle, unsuccessfully, to find its feet. Oh, and the ending is a little predictable.

5

Ty Power