Dinosaur Island

Director(s) - Fred Olen Ray (Scalps, Evil Toons) and Jim Wynorski (Chopping Mall, The Return of Swamp Thing)

Starring - Ross Hagen (Wonder Women, Action U.S.A.), Richard Gabai (Nightmare Sisters, After Midnight), and Antonia Dorian (Age of Dinosaurs, The Bare Wench Project)

Release Date - 1994

Genre - Fantasy/Adventure

Tagline - "Just like paradise, only better looking"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     The problem with being a cinephile is you watch so many movies that you can't remember especially if you've been doing it for decades.  I'm only 34 but I spent my entire childhood in front of the television.  In that time I've watched more movies than anyone can count but I can't connect the name to the title on all of them.  Sometime in my youth I had watched a cut version of Fred Olen Ray and Jim Wynorski's Dinosaur Island on cable.  I couldn't tell you the channel but I remember several of the scenes from this one.  Sometime back when I made a Makeflix order for some of the new blus I decided to snagg the DVD for Dinosaur Island thinking it was a movie I had never seen before.  However, once I tossed it in I realized this was going to be a revisit.

     The film follows a military group that find themselves stranded on a strange island inhabited by dinosaurs and a tribe of women warriors.  The men are believed to be gods when the women spot one of them with a tattoo.  They are then forced to kill a giant meat-eating dinosaur before the tribe makes another virgin sacrifice to it.

     Dinosaur Island is not a good movie but I'll be damned if I didn't have fun with it.  The additional violence and nudity that was cut from the cable broadcast made this feel like a slightly different movie.  I enjoyed but I honestly can't tell you why.  I've noticed that is a common theme with Ray's films.  They are rushed, cheap, and sleazy but you can't help but love them.  Dinosaur Island is not for everyone but if you enjoy the shitty side of cinema then you can appreciate this one.  The acting in this one is pretty rough but it's still fun.  The female characters all blend together.  They all deliver the same dry performance with lack of personalities.  They are all written in the film to be beautiful and eye candy.  The men have different personalities with some serving as moving parts of the story while others are the comedic relief.  The acting is also inconsistent with some really getting into their roles while others mindless saw their dialogue and then get topless.  The story for this one is one we have seen so many times including other Fred Olen Ray films.  We follow a group who find themselves stranded on an island with dinosaurs and primitive humans.  However, Ray and Wynorski bring their own brand of sleaze to the film.  We get tons of nudity and an unoriginal story with some humor.  It doesn't sound like a smart way to spend 90 some minutes of your life but I can assure you that you will enjoy it to some extent.  Finally, this one has some blood, some forced perspective shots, and a few other camera tricks.  The dinosaurs look like shit but...boobs.  Overall, Dinosaur Island is not a film that you will expect to enjoy but you will.  After posting about this film on social media I have yet to find someone who said they didn't have a good time.  I highly suggest snagging a copy of this on DVD from makeflix.com.