Three young sisters live in a house waiting to be adopted and, more importantly, not to be separated. With nothing left to lose, they decide to take a day off and escape to the beach. Following an incident, while trying to save their youngest sister caught in the ebb and flow of the waves, they find themselves caught on a surfboard drifting away from the coast.
How quickly we forget what it’s like to be a child; how little you understand. One of my first memories is being hit by a car at four. I wasn’t aware a two-ton hunk of metal traveling 30 km/hr could hurt me; I only knew I wanted to cross the street. That reckless, youthful ignorance is exploited and celebrated in the Schmidt Family’s “The Island of Lost Girls.” What else could possess young orphan sisters Autumn, Avila, and Scarlet (Schmidt, all playing versions of themselves) to flee their care home for a day at the beach? Of course, their danger is only heightened without parental supervision. When the surfboard is caught in a riptide, they find themselves on an island whose only inhabitants are sea lions and monstrous elephant seals.
The best natural horror films incorporate a documentary feel to their aesthetic, and “Girls” is perhaps well-suited for it because of its shoestring budget. The cast and crew couldn’t comprise more than ten people. The underwater photography can be anxiety-inducing, as can the way the Schmidts play with perspective to fully put the audience in the girls’ position. The girls may not be actresses (yet), but they’re all quite charismatic. “Girls” is also good at pulling horror from the unlikeliest places, as the last time a seal was mentioned as a violent beast in popular culture, it was a running gag on “Arrested Development.” They’re both as magnificent and terrifying as they would be on the Discovery Channel. That the Schmidts elliptically link the girls’ current predicament to their orphan status only makes the horror resonate stronger.
While often wrought with tension, “The Island of Lost Girls” tends to rely too heavily on its stars’ charms. They’re a little too precious, particularly when things get dangerous. They may have also overshot their ambition toward the end, putting young children in situations better suited to an action movie (Gene Siskel likely would have hated this). The scariest moments are born inside your mind. You’re older and wiser, and you’ll be frantically searching lingering shots on the water for any signs of a predator. When it may not show up, you’ll only want to celebrate.
“The Island of Lost Girls” recently had its Canadian Premiere at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival
