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''Fantasy Island'' reboot trailer shows us death lurking in paradise

Image: The Everett Collection

Fantasy Island certainly was something. An island, run by the mysterious Mr. Rourke, promises to make even your wildest fantasies come true… but be careful what you wish for. Mr. Rourke, played by Ricardo Montalbán, may or may not have been magic. Montalbán himself said that he considered Mr. Rourke to be an angel cast down from heaven, tasked with guiding souls through purgatory.

The show, created by Aaron Spelling (who also gave us Charlie's Angels and The Love Boat), ran from 1977 to 1984 and had dozens of guest stars, including Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) and Don Knotts (The Andy Griffith Show).

The show is most frequently remembered by fans as fun, if not a little goofy, escapism. Which is why when Blumhouse announced it would make a reboot of the show as a 2020 horror movie, it raised some eyebrows.

Blumhouse is most commonly known for producing scary movies, like Get Out, Paranormal Activity, and The Purge. People wondered what kind of tone the movie would take, especially when it was announced that while the character of Mr. Rourke would return (played this time by Michael Peña, who also played Frank "Ponch" Poncherello in the hard-R 2017 CHiPs reboot), they were not going to include the character of Tattoo.

Tattoo, played by Hervé Villechaize in the original, gave the show its iconic cry of "Ze plane! Ze plane!"

Well, wonder no more — we've finally got a trailer. And there is a sort of Tattoo-like character. Take a look.


Like people were guessing, Blumhouse has given Fantasy Island a dark, horror treatment. The movie is scheduled for release on Valentine's Day. So romantic.

What do you think of the twisted new look at the island?

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