Jurassic Island sits squarely in B-Movie territory, in both its acting and special effects. The writing leaves a lot to be desired, as the script itself almost seems like an afterthought to everything else. It’s a quick and vague setup to get the characters to the island so they can start getting eaten by dinosaurs and infected by the leeches. This thin launching-off point doesn’t improve over the course of the run time, with their reason for going to the island never rising much above “we want to explore it” and “maybe we can save the prior expedition.”

Jurassic Island centers on Ava (Sarah T. Cohen) and a group of explorers and scientists venturing to a mysterious island where Ava’s father went missing during an expedition. It’s something of a family obsession, as Ava’s grandfather is the one who discovered it, and the curiosity about the uncharted island has been passed from generation to generation. They quickly discover that it is a very deadly place where the members of the prior expedition met their violent ends. Not only are there dinosaurs, but also a mysterious leech that turns whoever it latches onto in to a ravenous zombie-like creature. The explorers are quickly in the fight of their lives as they encounter these deadly obstacles.

When they do reach the island, there are half-written conversations about the plant life and people occasionally collecting jars of dirt. Giving the characters a little more to do, such as having some grand secret that needed to be discovered, would have given the movie a little bit more of a narrative shape. A ticking clock, such as maybe having them race to get off the island to treat one of the leech bites, would have made things more urgent and compelling. Instead, everything is mostly an excuse to watch the characters get eaten by dinosaurs or vomit out a black substance when they do get infected until only one person is left. 

Most of the cast is treated as cannon fodder for the pre-historic residents of the island, and their performances reflect that. Sarah T. Cohen, as Ava, does display more range and emotion, giving the one performance that is able to cut through the paper-thin script. She convincingly conveys not only the fear but a drive-in Ava that makes her easy to cheer for as she does everything to escape the island in one piece. 

There was an opportunity here for some low-budget fun, but it’s hard to look past the very glaring shortcomings in the writing. While the expectation is very clear that these characters are going to meet untimely ends, having them meet those untimely ends for good reasons would have elevated Jurassic Island a little bit. The special effects are what they are for a low-budget movie, and can be overlooked. What is a little more difficult to overlook is that the narrative is built on a flimsy foundation that has negative effects on the entire story. 

2 out of 10