Gone are Ricardo Montalban and Hervé Villechaize, but Aaron Spelling’s classic camp fantasy soap, Fantasy Island, lives on this new Blumhouse update. The camp of the series has been traded for grimy horror in this 2020 reinterpretation from writer-director Jeff Wadlow.
The original series saw guests have fantasies granted by the vaguely sinister Mr Roarke (Montalban) and his assistant Tattoo (Villechaize), however, these fantasies usually resulted in unpleasant twists. The synopsis for this new version notes:
“In Blumhouse’s new spin on Fantasy Island, the enigmatic Mr. Roarke makes the secret dreams of his lucky guests come true at a luxurious but remote tropical resort. But when the fantasies turn into nightmares, the guests have to solve the island’s mystery in order to escape with their lives. Directed by Jeff Wadlow, Fantasy Island is written by Jeff Wadlow & Chris Roach & Jillian Jacobs and is produced by Jason Blum and Marc Toberoff.“
The new cast stars Michael Peña, Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, Portia Doubleday, Jimmy O. Yang, Ryan Hansen and Michael Rooker.
It seems like the only similarities between this reboot and the original series will be the loose concept and a few character names, however, we’re still cautiously intrigued. Take a stroll down memory lane with the original series before the update is released February 14th 2020.