Great mysteries exist throughout the world, and even America has claim to one of the most intriguing - that of the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. This Sci Fi Channel production starring Adrian Paul takes a paranormal approach in telling the story of the vanished settlement.
Based on truth, the Lost Colony was a group of English settlers who arrived on Roanoke Island just off the coast of North Carolina (now, but Virginia then,) in 1587. They were attempting to establish the first permanent English settlement in the New World, and had hopes of protecting the coast from Spanish exploration, as the two superpowers of the age were in competition for colonization.
All manner of theories and conjectures about what happened to the English colonists have been put forward since their disappearance. Historically we are told the only clue was the word “Croatan” carved into a tree near the deserted fort, and discovered by Governor John White upon his return to the colony in 1588.
With the modern DNA testing abilities, work has begun to chart Native American communities still in the Outer Banks area to see if the colony might have been adopted by their neighbors on the mainland, as they had lacked food and supplies to last through the winter.
Far from the truth, but fun for viewers is the idea presented in Lost Colony: The Legend of Roanoke that the island was possessed by evil spirits. In true horror form, it takes awhile for the settlers to realize that they are fighting inhuman entities, much less determine what it will take to overcome these spirits.
The wise Natives led by Manteo (Michael Teh) know to keep off the island and out of the heart of the woods, but due to bad relations with the colonists will offer nothing in the way of help but warnings.
Adonias Dare (Adrian Paul) and George Howe (Rhett Giles) do their best to protect the colony left in their charge. Both are handsome swashbuckling figures, and are given some lighter scenes with swords and entertaining the ladies that make one heartily wish for a different outcome for the obviously doomed group.
The eerie sense of something waiting to get you, and the nightmare visions of Eleanor Dare (Frida Farrell) build the suspense and horror nicely, but it gets a little too bloody in many of the scenes. Also, there seemed to be a focus on Eleanor’s visions on the midwife, so that I was expecting there to be some sort of connection between that woman and the events. That would have made perfect sense, and I wonder if this storyline was edited out of the final version for some reason.
Lost Colony: The Legend of Roanoake is presented on single disc, with a running time of 95 minutes. Optional Spanish subtitles are available. It is rated R for violent content and frightening images. One more note of truth, Virginia Dare was in truth and history the first child born in the New World.
In any event, in spite of blood, Lost Colony is nicely filmed, well acted and an interesting and entertaining story.
Lost Colony is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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