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Film / Fear Island

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Fear Island is a 2009 made-for-TV slasher film starring Haylie Duff, Aaron Ashmore and Lucy Hale. Police find a 19-year-old woman, Jenna, on a private island with all her friends murdered. When brought in for questioning, she explains that she and her friends had been spending the weekend at the house on the island, owned by two of the boys. After one night, upon waking up they find the ferryman dead and the boat gone, leaving them trapped on the island knowing they aren't alone.


This film provides examples of:

  • Cast as a Mask: Played with. Lucy Hale and Haylie Duff turn out to have swapped roles at the end. Lucy is Jenna and Haylee is Megan.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The nail gun that gets left lying around. Also Kyle's hunting knife.
  • Clark Kenting: Jenna/Megan when she escapes from the hospital at the end wearing the forensic scientist's glasses.
  • Final Girl: Jenna. It turns out she's exploiting this and is really the killer.
  • Freudian Excuse: The detective's excuse is that his son died at a frat party.
  • Freudian Slip: "I wanted to kill them all when I heard about it".
  • Hourglass Plot: A small case, but initially the female officer believes Jenna while the male officer is convinced that Jenna is the killer. Eventually, they swap viewpoints, meaning that they're both right.
  • How We Got Here: The film opens with Jenna being found on the island and the plot unfolds as she tells the police her story.
  • Incest Subtext: There's rather a lot between the brothers Tyler and Kyle and it's even implied they had a threesome with another girl. They were both shown sleeping in the same bed with her anyway.
  • Male Gaze: Ashley, full stop, especially when she drowns.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Ashley, who's introduced wearing a cleavage-bearing top, and she spends much of her screentime in a bikini. Taken to its climax as she is shown drowning.
  • Plot Hole: Several, but they're meant to be there since Jenna is making the whole story up.
  • Shaking Her Hair Loose: Jenna does this at the end to symbolize how she got away with everything.
  • Slashers Prefer Blondes: Inverted. Jenna is the sole survivor. Then subverted all to hell when it's revealed the blonde is the slasher.
  • Spiritual Successor: It was clearly inspired by the British thriller The Hole starring Thora Birch and Keira Knightley, which also deals with a young woman who is the only survivor after a weekend party and who also turns out to be lying to the police.
  • Uncanny Valley Girl: Megan, Jenna's true identity.
  • Women Are Wiser: The female forensic scientist is a lot calmer and more rational than the male detective, who is brash and aggressive.

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