Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Lord of the Flies Blu-ray Movie Review

Just you wait until your fathers hear about this.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 27, 2015

A couple of years ago my wife and I made the perhaps questionable decision to visit parts of Europe with our teenaged sons, something that “delighted” the kids, leading to over two weeks of sometimes sullen behavior. Even my boys’ less than thrilled attitude about being “trapped” in a foreign land (or two) with their decrepit parents paled one day when we were visiting the Tower of London. Though it was the middle of summer, and an uncharacteristically bright and sunny day in England at that, the place was literally overrun by British schoolchildren, all in their matching little uniforms and all marauding through the place like hordes of tiny invaders. They screamed, they yelled, they literally pushed the adult tourists out of the way so that they could continue their incursions, which ultimately led to me turning around and saying to my wife, “Suddenly Lord of the Flies makes so much more sense.” William Golding’s famously allegorical novel didn’t make many waves when it was first published in 1954, but it has gone on to become one of the most iconic, if also occasionally one of the more controversial, tales involving a dystopian approach toward human nature. The fact that Golding’s premise involves children, many of them supposedly cherubic British choirboys (at least in its initial formulation), probably only helped to make the general outlines of the plot that much more provocative. A bunch of stranded young survivors on an island trying to make their way in a new and untamed land may strike some as a kind of “mini-me” precursor to television’s epochal Lost: The Complete Collection, but for all the drama (not to mention melodrama) that played out amongst both the crash survivors and “original” residents of Lost’s mysterious island, few if any of the characters in the television series reverted to the feral, atavastic stage that most of the boys in Lord of the Flies do. It’s that aspect that has given Lord of the Flies its compelling, if often incredibly disturbing, allure.

Unlike Peter Brook’s acclaimed 1963 film version of Golding’s tale, this 1990 remake doesn’t really spend much if any time setting up the backstory of the kids, instead beginning with a pre-credits sequence which sees a gaggle of boys flailing about in the ocean after some sort of unspecified carnage. Also unlike Golding’s original and the first film version, there’s a living, if badly wounded, adult in the mix, as one of the boys dives repeatedly to try to bring an unconscious grownup to the surface. Ultimately the boys manage to inflate a raft, and after the credits, the group is seen arriving at the island where the rest of the film will take place. Another revision of the original becomes apparent once the boys really start talking, and it is evident that these kids are not in fact British, but American. It also turns out they are military school cadets, something that would seem on its face to provide a natural tendency toward order and echelons of command.

While there are obviously manifest differences already in play in this version of Lord of the Flies, the basic outline of the plot will remain more or less familiar to anyone who has either read Golding’s tome or seen the Brook film. Once again hapless Piggy (Danuel Pipoly) is the butt of bad behavior while also acting as something of a conscience for the group. And while there are some minor variances in background and character development, once again Ralph (Balthazar Getty) and Jack (Chris Furrh) ultimately emerge as nemeses in an increasingly brutal power struggle that overtakes the more civilized sensibilities of the boys. As with the original novel and the first film version, there’s also the island’s mythic “Beast” in play, though in one of this film’s rather curious artifices, a bizarre subplot involving the adult survivor figures into the proceedings, providing this Lord of the Flies with a bit more of a traditional horror ambience, at least in one shocking scene.

Director (and editor) Harry Hook opts for a somewhat glossier approach than Brook took with his quasi-verité black and white 1963 outing. Shooting in color (in Jamaica), Hook exploits the paradisiacal beauty of the island, something that is obviously meant to stand as an ironic counterpoint to the horrifying human behavior that begins unfolding, but which in actuality only lends an increased artificiality to the proceedings, tending to undercut some of the dramatic heft. Ironically one of the things this Lord of the Flies shares with the first film is the obvious inexperience of some of the young male actors. Balthazar Getty does reasonably well as Ralph, even if his climactic breakdown at the film’s conclusion is patently unrealistic, but Chris Furrh comes off as more petulant than actually menacing as Jack. Danuel Pipoly’s inherent vulnerability helps to make his Piggy relatively memorable, but some of the supporting kids have obviously not quite mastered the art of film acting.

The unsettling ambience of Golding’s story still has a visceral power in this film version, though it seems somewhat diluted, both courtesy of the scenic presentation and perhaps simply more so due to the passage of time and a growing cynicism in a world weary audience which by 1990 had seen all sorts of unbelievable behavior on the part of various “civilized” kids around the globe. In 1954, when the novel appeared, and 1963, when the first film debuted, the idea of well brought up kids devolving into something akin to murderous cavemen was inherently shocking. By the tail end of the 20th century, the idea of little monsters running amok like this seemed almost passé.

Lord of the Flies Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lord of the Flies is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Elements are in generally very good condition, with a minimum of age related artifacts like very minor scratches and speckling. Colors have made it through the gauntlet of the intervening years very well, with the island's lush tropical greens and reds especially proficient and convincing looking. Grain is slightly variable, spiking just a bit unnaturally at times, but overall retaining a good, organic looking appearance. Sharpness and clarity are also a bit on the variable side, with much of the film's exterior footage looking a bit on the soft side. There's minimal shadow detail to the point of outright crush in several of the darkest nighttime sequences, moments where, for example, backgrounds can virtually disappear in the nighttime. Image depth and stability are both commendable. As is virtually always the case with Olive releases, there have been no obvious restorative efforts made, but likewise no aggressive digital tweaking done.

Lord of the Flies Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lord of the Flies' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix is nicely detailed, offering a lot of excellent ambient environmental effects while keeping dialogue well prioritized as well as supporting the menacingly playful score by Philippe Sarde (one of the standouts of this version). Nicely full bodied throughout all frequency ranges, the track shows no real signs of any age related wear and tear, and boasts excellent fidelity and good dynamic range.

Lord of the Flies Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on this Blu-ray disc.

Lord of the Flies Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This 1990 version of Lord of the Flies may be "new," but purists will probably question whether or not it's actually "improved." Some of the changes made to Golding's original are minimal (which kind of begs the question as to why they were undertaken to begin with), while others are a bit more dubious, tipping the film ever so slightly toward a more familiar horror ambience. Probably too colorful for its own good, the film nonetheless offers a nice contrast between the incredibly gorgeous scenery and the incredibly ugly behavior of the children. Involving if never as cathartic as it might have been, Lord of the Flies offers enough unsettling content to come Recommended.