''Monster Island'' is a 2019 television science-fiction

monster film A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall und ...

produced by

The Asylum The Asylum is an American independent film company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and sc ...

. Keeping with The Asylum's mainstay theme of

mockbuster A mockbuster (also known as knockbuster or a drafting opportunity) is a film created to exploit the publicity of another major motion picture with a similar title or subject. Mockbusters are often made with a low budget and quick production to max ...

s, it was released in the same year as the 2019 monster film '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters''. ''Monster Island'' first premiered on June 1, 2019 on the Syfy channel, exactly one day after ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters''.

Plot

A team of geologists collaborate with the New Zealand Coast Guard in fighting against two

kaiju is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...

in battle with one another: a giant starfish dubbed Tengu that spawns dragon-like offspring, and the golem-like Walking Mountain.

Cast

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in ''King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes fo ...

as General Horne * Toshi Toda as Lieutenant Maxwell * Adrian Bouchet as Billy Ford * Natalie Robbie as Sarah Murray * Chris Fisher as Riley James *

Jonathan Pienaar Jonathan Pienaar (born 16 September 1962) is a South African writer, actor, voice-over artist and comedian who has been active for over 20 years. He has appeared in both South African and international films and television shows including ''Ski ...

as Captain Mato * Margot Wood as Rena Hangaroa * Meghan Oberholzer as Susan Meyerhold * Ryan Kruger as Navigator Thompson * Lindsay Sullivan as Captain Hansen

Production

''Monster Island'' was filmed in

Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislature, legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the sec ...

;

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

; and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Release

''Monster Island'' aired twice in its television premiere on June 1, 2019. Exactly twelve days later, it was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on June 13. Three months later, Monster Island was available on SVOD on September 13.

Reception

Phil Wheat of Nerdly said of the film: "I'm not going to lie, this is yet another low-budget CGI-filled film from The Asylum and if you don’t like that sort of thing you’re not going to like this. But… but, if you're like me and live for these cheesy, gloriously over-the-top, B-movies then there's a LOT to recommend about ''Monster Island''."

References

External links

*
Monster Island
' on ''The Asylum'' website * {{IMDb title, id=10238788 Kaiju films Giant monster films 2019 television films 2019 films American monster movies 2010s English-language films Films set on islands Mockbuster films The Asylum films Films directed by Mark Atkins 2010s American films 2010s Japanese films