I was hoping the phrase “Croatoa” might make an appearance carved into a tree, but no, instead, jungle-set horror-thriller The Lost Tribe is a basically just a warmed-over iteration of Predator, with Lance Henriksen, a healthy pinch of The Ruins and a bit of Neil Marshall’s The Descent thrown in for good measure.
Directed by Roel Reiné, the movie unfolds on a remote tropical island, where a cold open reveals a primeval secret that that fells a group of archeologists. Much later, a group of friends are shipwrecked on that same island — a group including young physician Anna (Emily Foxler), her boyfriend Tom (Nick Mennell), Chris (Hadley Fraser), Joe (Marc Bacher) and Alexis (Brianna Brown). (The ex-almost Mrs. Ed Burns, Maxine Bahns, also appears as Maya, for what it’s worth.) There, the guys and dolls find quite a secret waiting for them: a strong,
ravenous, and none-too-friendly tribe of humanoids. Facing off with these remnants of prehistory, this group of friends becomes
the hunted, relying on their own animal instincts to survive.
Reiné works in an efficient visual style that is compelling enough in an of-the-moment fashion. The problem is that The Lost Tribe‘s script is thin on interesting characterizations, and even thinner still on the mystery it halfheartedly attempts to attach to Henriksen’s brutal and ruthless Catholic crusader. Ergo, the (much less interesting) horrific thrill-hunt elements of the film overwhelm any sense of slow-building trepidation or mystery regarding the discovery at the movie’s core. Diehard genre fans might enjoy a twirl with this Tribe, but general audiences won’t be missing much.
Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case, The Lost Tribe comes to DVD presented in a nice transfer and 2.35:1 aspect ratio, enhanced for 16×9 televisions, with a Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound audio track and optional English SDH subtitles. Bonus features come by way of the movie’s trailer, a 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette and a very literal-minded audio commentary track with Fraser and producer Mohit Ramchandani. To purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here. C (Movie) C+ (Disc)