Lost Colony: The Legend of Roanoke (2007)

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

A different way of telling a story

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

This movie is an entertaining flick that one can see once but not more. I would suggest you to loan this movie if you are interested in a short and action filled movie with a few fantasy and horror elements in a beautiful geographical and historical setting. This is a perfect movie if you are looking for a last film to rent or buy to get a special price reduction or guarantee bonus in the usual shops. It's also a perfect movie to watch something relaxing on a lonely night on television before you go to bed as it is no disturbing flick at all where it isn't ultimately important if you close your eyes from time to time. It's the perfect movie too softly switch your brain off at night.I give already one point to the magnificent landscapes and locations of the flick. The places are well captured and the camera crew delivers a solid job. Another point goes the cultural, historical and mythological background of the movie that is not always that plausible but at least intriguing. The philosophical and moral touch concerning values of friendship, trust, faith and strength adds another interesting level to this low budget movie. A fourth point goes out to the acting. Even though it is not stunning, the rather unknown actors are doing what they can with what they get and I have seen much worse performances. I could maybe give half a point to the ending of the movie that is not ultimately surprising but well chosen.The problem with this flick is the constant lack of atmosphere. There is no suspense or horror in the air, the most frightening scene is already the opening sequence. As soon as you see what attacks the lost colony, any degree of suspense is erased as the special effects are horrible and make you rather laugh out loud than fear. The whole plot doesn't always seem coherent and intriguing to carry over the whole length of the movie. Concerning the action or slash factor, this one is surprisingly low and the battles are really poor and almost boring. Now, as the story is not intriguing and as there is no true suspense, no action and no horror, there is not much left that carries this movie on to be honest. The movie seems to slightly touch any of the mentioned genres without building up something concrete. Some horror scenes, some fantasy moments, some action sequences, some drama dialogues and from time to time some landscape shots are mixed together to a whole mediocre movie of chilled entertainment.

In 1587, 117 brave men and women set sail from Britain to establish the first English colony in Americas. They land on Roanoke Island, off the coast of Virginia. They build a settlement and plant crops. After a period, a group of colonists finds the local fortress deserted with the corpse of a suicidal hanged in decomposition and a warning written with blood on the ceiling. Ananias Dare (Adrian Paul) is assigned to be in charge of the colony while their leader will bring supplies. Sooner Ananias learns that the forest is haunted by evil spirits that feed themselves of human soul and that they are chasing his new-born daughter that has a pure soul."Wraiths of Roanoke" is a lame and boring film with a terrible story, bad acting and direction, awful art direction and costumes and poor special effects. Further, it is too long and repetitive along 95 minutes running time, giving the sensation that the annoying story will never end. This flick is highly recommended for insomnious viewers that do not want to swallow sleeping pills. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Espíritos da Floresta" ("Spirits of the Forest")

My god this film is bad, however it is strangely watchable. Especially if you have a DVD player in your room, you're ill on a weekday or pulling a sickie. I like watching bad ghost films on a cold miserable day. This wasn't scary apart from watching the wasted potential of Adrian Paul's career ! The ghosts in questions resemble something out of a rundown ghost train attraction or a half baked equalivent of the ghost army from 'Return Of The King'. Still it's watchable as it does have some very mild suspense. For the duriation of the film I would recommend some hot soup and a toasted cheese sandwich, or 1 low volume alcoholic beer- depends on your mood!

"Wraiths of Roanoke" is an incredibly fun and interesting Sci-Fi Channel film.**SPOILERS**In the Roanoke Colony in 1587, Ananias Dare, (Adrian Paul) finds the other colonists in fear when one of their own are brutally murdered. Trying to help, Governor John White, (Alex McArthur) places him in charge while he's away and soon after he wife Eleanor, (Frida Snow) welcome a baby. When the colonists suddenly start to mysteriously vanish, his friend George Howe, (Rhett Giles) convinces him that the local Indian tribe isn't to blame, despite what the others say, and after a disastrous raid, they are severely depleted and even more angrier with the Indians. Still not convinced, his suspicions prove correct when they discover that the source is Nordic spirits known as Wraiths who have called the Island home, and soon fight them off to take their land back.The Good News: This was a really fun and surprising Sci-Fi Channel entry. A big factor is that this is full of wonderful suspense scenes. The woods themselves have a glorious creepy feel, as there's a really eerie air to them. From the pattern of the trees to the really disorienting nature of it, this one here really makes the woods creepy before the supernatural stuff comes into play. Wit it's near-constant whispering voices coming from off-screen in every direction, eerie howling and the instances where the surroundings come to life to take out victims make for some really creepy moments. The Wraiths themselves are really creepy looking as well, as there's glow about them that gives them a great look and the fact that the creatures look very monstrous gives them a great look and makes them more of a threat to the characters. The best feature of the film, though, is that there's a huge body count in this one. The creatures here knock off a large number of the colonists which makes for some really great deaths. There's one who gets their arms pulled off by supernaturally-powered vines, having a hand thrust in the back and explode violently out from the stomach, a huge helping of being slashed across the face, chest and body with axes, swords, hands and knives and a really great slit throat. Then there is the really big selection of kills that is the selling point, where the touch from the creatures results in having the skin melted away down to bones in a big pile of red goo. There's several of these in here, which is quite nice since there's a big amount of gore there, but also because of the fact that the effect looks incredibly well-done. The fact that the film also has an incredible amount of action is not to be ignored. The final half-hour is just incredible, as there's two huge battle scenes between the two groups in their campground that are long, brutal and just full of action to get the film interesting. There's even a really fantastic attack on the Indian camp which really goes over well. It goes back-and-forth between both sides having the advantage to really knocking off a lot of members in the fight. That it goes on for awhile is great, which makes it even better. This one was an incredibly surprising and fun film.The Bad News: This one really only has a couple mild flaws. The fact that the Wraiths are seen way too early on in the film. They have a great, creepy look to them that really could've been exploited greatly with a reveal mid-way or late into the film, and by having them seen quite early, it really doesn't fare well as having them seen later. There could've been a little build-up to it through keeping them off-screen for a while to get the mystery, then paid off with a great reveal. It's a minor missed opportunity at worst. The other thing that doesn't sit well is that the origin of the creatures doesn't really come through that well. There's a legend about Nordic spirits, but it's not all the way explained. These two minor things really could've been used for the film.The Final Verdict: One of the best Sci-Fi Channel originals in the category, with severely mild flaws to bring this one down. Really recommended to fans of those films, as well as those looking for an action-packed film, while those who are adamantly against these films won't be bothered with this one.Rated R: Graphic Violence