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Fantasy Island: Ending & Twist Explained

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Summary

  • Blumhouse’s
    Fantasy Island
    explores the dangers of yielding to desires, with a cautionary tale message for younger viewers.
  • Similar to the TV series, Mr. Roarke must see each fantasy through to its natural conclusion, leading to twisted outcomes.
  • The island’s magical power to make fantasies come true is tied to a deal Mr. Roarke made for his wife’s eternal life, with strings attached.



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Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island brings a group of young people to a deserted, tropical island where they get the opportunity to live out their greatest fantasies: but fantasies, they soon learn, are not all they appear by the film’s ending. Based on the ’70s and ’80s television series of the same name, Fantasy Island is equal parts horror story and cautionary tale about regret and unfulfilled desire. With a talented cast of young actors that include Lucy Hale, Maggie Q, Portia Doubleday, Jimmy O. Yang, and Michael Peña as Mr. Roarke, Fantasy Island taps into a luxurious, tropical setting that holds an air of mystery — and danger — from the first frame.


Similarly to the TV series, which ran on ABC from 1977-1984, Mr. Roarke is the facilitator of the island’s magic, and must connect his guests with their fantasies. However, once the fantasy begins, they must see it out to its “natural conclusion“. The PG-13 horror movie has a lot to say about yielding to the heart’s deepest desires, but with an underlying message of “be careful what you wish for“. While it’s not the most critically acclaimed Blumhouse horror, the Fantasy Island ending served the movie’s purpose well, carrying the plot through to become a satisfactory introduction to the horror genre for younger viewers.

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Fantasy Island’s Ending Explained

Melanie Was Behind The Deadly Turn Fantasy Island Took

Michael Pena in Fantasy Island


While the Fantasy Island ending is somewhat predicatble, it’s still a satisfying conclusion to the story (especially given the PG-13 rating, which means it can be forgiven for its somewhat by-the-numbers plot since the target audience are likely not as familiar with the tropes of the horror genre). After the contest winners arrive at the island, their fantasies start coming true. Each of them has filled out a questionnaire that allows Roarke, the island’s facilitator and benefactor, to tailor a completely vivid fantasy to their own, unique desires down to the last detail.

However, his ominous warning comes into play when their fantasies start to become twisted and go in unexpected and even deadly directions. Melanie (Hale), who originally operates the guise of someone who wishes to get revenge on a childhood bully, is revealed to have orchestrated everyone’s arrival on Fantasy Island.


Melanie’s justification for wanting revenge goes beyond her actions on Sloane (Doubleday), and is rooted in the fact that — due to being bullied — she was never able to grow up with confidence.

A few years prior, Melanie’s crush, Nick Taylor, ended up burning alive in an apartment fire that was accidentally set by Gwen (Q), and everyone else inadvertently had a hand in his death. Melanie’s justification for wanting revenge goes beyond her actions on Sloane (Doubleday), and is rooted in the fact that — due to being bullied — she was never able to grow up with confidence. Nick was the first person who made her feel like she was special and worthy, and after he “stood her up” on their first date, she started to second-guess herself only to find out that he was killed in a fire. Likely, he wouldn’t have stood her up at all.


Roarke made a deal with the island that he would stay there forever and do its bidding, so long as it kept his wife, Julia, alive.

Roarke ends up saving the day and intervenes, allowing his guests to avoid their deaths. Roarke’s benevolence doesn’t come without a cost, though, as all the island’s fantasies seem to do; a true cautionary tale at its core, there are always strings attached, and every action must have a consequence.

Roarke made a deal with the island that he would stay there forever and do its bidding, so long as it kept his wife, Julia, alive. Julia ends up going through loops of health followed by sickness, and repeating this pattern; Roarke decides to let her go, and disobeys the island to save his guests, which results in him losing Julia forever.


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How Do The Fantasies Of The Island’s Guests Come True?

The Magic That Powers The Island Is Possible Because Of A Deal Roarke Made

Fantasy Island 2020

Throughout Fantasy Island, there is a constant dripping sound that leads to what appears, at first, like blood but is later revealed to be the magical, black water of the island. This water, which is housed in a water-logged cave and topped by a massive crystal, holds the secrets to the island’s ability to know – instinctively – and deliver each guest’s greatest fantasy. It is heavily implied that, while the magic is centralized to the island, there must be a caretaker who facilitates what the island can accomplish for people, if it is done on a larger scale.


Roarke’s deal with the island — his wife’s eternal life in exchange for him staying there as the island’s servant — is broken by the end of the film, yet he stays anyway, and even offers the same deal to Brax (Yang). Brax’s brother JD (Ryan Hansen), dies during the events of his fantasy being played out. Before the surviving guests depart the island, Brax mentions to Roarke that he wishes his brother could go home and live a happy life with the girl of his dreams, who recently broke up with him because of their inseparable sibling relationship.

JD has been Brax’s closest ally since their family disowned him for being gay, and Brax feels like owes his brother a debt.


JD has been Brax’s closest ally since their family disowned him for being gay, and Brax feels like owes his brother a debt. Roarke agrees to grant his fantasy — JD’s life, restored — if he stays at the island and helps as his assistant. It is then where Brax reveals the origin of his embarrassing nickname; he got a tattoo on his chest that simply says “tattoo”. Those familiar with the TV series will see this as a fun little hat tip to the show, as Roarke’s assistant, played by Hervé Villechaize, was known as Tattoo.

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The Real Meaning Of Fantasy Island’s Ending

The Ending Of Fantasy Island Ties Up A Surprisingly Layered Movie

Lucy Hale in Fantasy Island 2020


The deeper themes of Fantasy Island revolve around unprocessed trauma, regret, and revenge. Melanie’s character in particular, who was bullied, has been so unstable because of what happened to her that she is hell-bent on seeking revenge on those who wronged her in any way, even taking it to an extreme with bodily torture and death. Before she ends up in the torture chamber with her childhood bully, Melanie asks Roarke if she can film the event so she can “remember it”.

She then unleashes both mental and physical torments, including posting a sex tape of her with another man to Sloane’s personal Facebook page to break up her marriage. However, she saves Sloane from death so she can get an apology from her bully before trying to kill her. This goes to show an absolutely broken psyche, and speaks to the lasting effects of bullying; some scars never truly heal, and some lives are permanently affected by “harmless” name-calling and other acts committed in youth.


Fantasy Island



is remarkably layered, and presents an open opportunity for other sequels and spin-offs to happen, should audiences be further interested in director Jeff Wadlow’s slice of paradise.

Another theme, which is explored more with Gwen’s character, is regret. Gwen has completely lost her ability to have happiness in her life because she believed she wasn’t deserving of love. This cost her a happy marriage with the man of her dreams and a child. Loss is also depicted through Patrick’s storyline, who goes to the island to “play soldier” and ends up serving alongside his dad, who died a heroic death saving his men from a live grenade. Patrick loses his dad all over again, but still chooses to throw himself on a grenade to save his new acquaintances because he gained a better understanding of what heroism is.


He ultimately respected his father more for doing the right thing, even if it meant growing up without him. Fantasy Island is remarkably layered, and presents an open opportunity for other sequels and spin-offs to happen, should audiences be further interested in director Jeff Wadlow’s slice of paradise.

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How Critics & Audiences Felt About Fantasy Island & Its Ending

The PG-13 Blumhouse Horror Was A Flop


The Fantasy Island ending may have effectively conveyed the movie’s themes of regret, loss, guilt, and the age-old adage of “be careful what you wish for”, but this wasn’t enough for it to win over critics or audiences. The Blumhouse remake of the classic TV series currently sits at 8% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, with an audience score of only 48%. Critics were especially harsh when reviewing Fantasy Island, with the broad-strokes consensus being that it felt like a thinly-veiled attempt from Blumhouse to cash in on a TV franchise from yesteryear.

The ending played into this too, with the final reveal that Brax would go on to be Roarke’s assistant from the original show, Tattoo, feeling like a cheap tacked-on link to the source material. Audiences were slightly more forgiving, and this may have in part been due to the target audience being somewhat younger than Blumhouse’s usual market when it comes to horror movies. This accounts for the other element of the critical reviews — many felt that, for a horror movie, Fantasy Island simply wasn’t scary enough.


Whether
Fantasy Island
fell victim to this curse or was simply a bad movie is debatable, but even though it had a low audience score, the film still clearly has its fans

This opens up an age-old debate around PG-13 horror, with many critics unfairly panning scary movies that target younger age brackets. Whether Fantasy Island fell victim to this curse or was simply a bad movie is debatable, but even though it had a low audience score, the film still clearly has its fans. Since there are still no plans for Fantasy Island 2, however, it’s safe to say that the set-up of the Fantasy Island ending will lead to nothing except the events of the original show.

Fantasy Island Blumhouse Reboot Poster

Fantasy Island

Loosely based on the original television series released in 1977, Fantasy Island is a supernatural horror movie that sees a group of people lured to the titular island with hopes of seeing their dreams come true. When the new arrivals prepare themselves to have the experience of a lifetime, they soon realize the idyllic paradise is a nightmarish, supernatural hell from which they must escape to survive.

Director
Jeff Wadlow

Release Date
February 14, 2020

Cast
Michael Rooker , Jimmy O. Yang , Ryan Hansen , Portia Doubleday , Maggie Q , Lucy Hale , Michael Pena

Runtime
110 minutes


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