Tuesday 22 March 2011

Island Of Pernicious Primates ...


The Lost Tribe
(2010)

A group of friends out at sea run into trouble when their yacht hit’s a coral reef, tearing into the hull of the boat. The shipwrecked companions are washed ashore upon the beach of an uncharted island. Within the inland jungle something far more inhospitable than the wake of the ocean awaits them. A wave of tribal terror follows !.


The mysterious island and its even more mysterious inhabitants seem not to be a mystery to the U.S government forces. A scientific research team had set up base camp there, but having all fallen prey to the native primate creatures a clean up military team, headed up by Lance Henriksen’s character, is sent in to cover the incident up and to leave no witnesses.

This is actually a pretty well done, low budget, tried and tested horror formula, that runs at a good pace throughout. The threat of the movie indeed comes in the form of the island primates. Their basic instincts of survival within a tribal regime, with an alpha male leader, is realistic. When the creatures attack their victims it is primarily unexpected and well done, swooping down from above, out of the trees, and carrying off their targets to immediately feast upon them.


Lance Henriksen’s character is pretty much a cameo, but his presence always adds credence to proceedings in these low budget outings. He believes that the stranded companions are a part of the island scientific team, and so continues to follow his brief in killing all human life, as pre-ordered.


Most of the cast are there for creature fodder, and fulfil their intended roles dutifully enough. Throat severing and creature chow downs come in equal measure, with a modicum of blood to raise the rating to an ‘R’.


What keeps the movie going is the lead character, a strong female with a presence about her that plays a little off the Ripley character type from Alien (1979). Apply a Predator (1987) scenario to the primate creatures upon the island and you have a familiar mix. The introduction of our heroin discovering a gooey grape like plant extract that upon bodily application gives a masking effect, that the short sighted creatures senses are thrown by, and it all adds up to a faux coming together of the two big budget Hollywood action movies.

Fun enough though for a throw away view. Undemanding entertainment with enough action and creature attacks, along with the welcome Lance Henriksen cameo, to keep it interesting till the inevitable showdown ending.

The Lost Tribe Trailer

Movie Details IMDB

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