_**Ya gotta be tough**_

A young woman (Kat Alexandra, aka Elle Alexander) inherits a small island in the Thousand Islands region of northern New York after her grandparents were found murdered there three years earlier. It becomes quite clear that some people don’t want her there. Will she survive? Kristjan Sokoli plays a yokel while Cliff Yates is on hand as the sheriff.

“Devil’s Island” (2021) is a slow-burn mystery Indie with a bit o’ suspense and horrific thrills, but it’s not a gory horror movie. It’s basically a micro-budget rendering of “The Wicker Man” (1973/2006) switched to the Saint Lawrence River in upstate New York with a very different conclusion. The curvy, petite protagonist is attractive and the paradisal locations are enjoyable with the movie playing almost like a travelogue, but viewers who need an explosion every 10 minutes or buckets of blood will likely find it mundane and tedious.

The flick respects the viewer’s intelligence to connect the dots based on the glaring clues without spelling it out. It’s simple as pie, but I don’t want to spoil it for viewers. The theme revolves around overcoming fear, using your intelligence & available resources in response to grave challenges and standing your ground. Just listen to the lyrics of the song as the credits roll.

If you like movies like “The Wicker Man” and “The Shuttered Room” (1967) and don’t mind the quirky approach of low-budget Indies, give it a try. There’s nothing wrong with the technical filmmaking; the acting, lighting, sound, cinematography, music and stunts/effects are all fine.

The film is short-and-sweet at 1 hour, 12 minutes, and was shot at Thousand Islands, New York, in the Saint Lawrence River that emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario.

GRADE: B-/C+