"On Emerald Island, You Are On The Bottom Of The Food Chain!"	Year of Release: 1999 Directed by: Michael Lantieri Running Time: Approx. 90 minutes Rating: PG-13 Listing on the A.K.A. Page: Nope! A Second Opinion: Stomp Tokyo Buy it on DVD at: Amazon.com or Movies Unlimited.com. My Rating:

Patrick- A traumatized teen who witnessed his dog and parents getting attacked and eaten by the Komodos. He acts very strangely through the whole film, for instance he tears out the heart of a dead Komodo. He bravely captures and kills one of the vicious lizards.

Victoria- Jill Hennessy! The psychologist who takes Patrick back to the island to help him conquer his fears. She soon learns that the trip may be doing more harm than good. She takes out a Komodo by smashing it's head repeatedly with a rock.

Mr. Gris- Patrick's friend and ferryman. He takes Pat, Annie, and Victoria to the island. He apparently felt guilty about letting them go and attempts to find them. He ends up dead due to an infected Komodo bite.

Annie- Pat's nannie? Aunt? I never picked up on her relation to him other than guardian. She ends up as Komodo fodder.

Denby and Oates- Two guys on the island guarding the oil facility and taking care of the lizard problem. Denby has his throat ripped out, but lasts long enough to take out a Komodo. Oates wrestles with a Komodo and puts a iron pole through it's neck and shoots two others. He helps Patrick and Victoria escape the island.

The Komodos- An endangered species of reptiles that was dumped off on the island by some guy. They're big, intelligent, fast, and extremely hungry. Killed in various ways (shot, stabbed with poles and knives, hung and stabbed, hit with a car, shot with a flare gun).

When I picked this up at the local Blockbuster video store, I expected this direct to video film to be awful. Boy was I wrong. This movie does have it's problems but makes up for it with good solid acting and wonderful special effects. The movie opens with some guy driving through an island (never did find out what island) with some cargo in his van. As he's driving along singing along with the song, "The Sultans of Swing," he hears something fall in the back of the van. He pulls over and investigates, then for some reason he tosses away a crate full of large eggs. Time passes on the island (about 19 summers) and we find that an oil company has taken over most of the island. Also living on the island is Patrick Connely, his parents, and his cute dog Buster.
Well one evening, Pat runs off to his secret place on the island and his parents search for him. He runs across a small lizard and tries to lasso it with a piece of string but it runs off. He soon finds the string and pulls it to reveal the small lizard is gone but it's blood's on the string. Then he's suddenly attacked by something. He escapes and runs home. He curls up into a ball on the kitchen floor, suddenly his cute dog Buster comes through the doggy-door. But before Pat can save him, a huge reptilian head smashes through the door and grabs Buster. Pat looks out the hole only to see his parents being attacked and eaten by the assailing beasts. Years pass and Pat is still somewhat in shock. He has pushed the event to the back of his mind but still has nightmares about it.
His psychologist, Victoria decides to take him back to the island. And so she, Pat, and Annie (who is she?) go to the island on a ferry, courtesy of Mr. Gris, Pat's childhood friend. They arrive at the island and go back to Pat's home. That evening, Annie hears a noise outside and investigates. Minutes later she is found on the hallway floor without part of her stomach. Suddenly we see a Komodo come into the room and it chases Pat and Victoria. Vicky stabs it in the head with a knife and it runs off...to get Annie. The beast pulls poor Annie through a hole in the floor and Victoria and Pat run like hell.
Pat and Vicky run to her car and hop in. As they're pulling away, a Komodo smashes through the back window and wriggles inside. Victoria steps on the gas and the Komodo is sent falling backwards to it's death. They hit a dead end and discover poor Mr. Gris. They help him into the car, swerve between two Komodos, and end up running Denvy and Oates off of the road. Everyone survives (for the time being) and groups together, except for Pat. He tears the heart out of the dead Komodo and runs away (what the hell is up with that?). So the group makes their way back to the oil plant, where they discover that one or more Komodos have gotten in. Inside they hear a sound in the laundry room. Denby, unfortunately gets there first.
Denby's found with his neck partially ripped out, and before the Komodo that did it could attack, he blows it away. Denby dies from his wound, but not before poor Mr. Gris dies from a bacterial infection. So then Victoria and Oates go to save Pat, who is at his secret place on the island. It's here where most of the marauding Komodos are slayed. Oates runs off after distracting a Komodo and steals a helicopter from his visiting superior (oh yeah, the oil company has been keeping the lid on the Komodos so that they don't get in trouble for killing an endangered species). Victoria and Pat escape and are charged at by a large Komodo, when suddenly Oates rescues them in the chopper and shoots the large reptile in the mouth with a flare-gun. And so our three heroes escape certain death while leaving the bad guys back with the remaining Komodo dragons.

Victoria: "Tell me about your island. What do you remember about it?"
Patrick: "An island is a land-mass, smaller than a continent, and completely surrounded by water. Someone or something that is completely isolated."

Victoria: "Should we split up?"
Oates: "That's definitely a bad idea."
Victoria: "Yeah... I'll go this way."