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Lord of the Flies

Play trailer Poster for Lord of the Flies R 1990 1h 30m Adventure Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
55% Tomatometer 22 Reviews 52% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
In this updated take on William Golding's classic novel, a group of American military schoolboys become marooned on a remote island after a plane crash. While initially cooperative, after the discovery of a beast, the boys split into two warring camps, one headed by the liberal-minded Ralph (Balthazar Getty), the other by the militaristic Jack (Chris Furrh). Their society begins to descend into violence, and boys soon learn there's a thin line between society and savagery.

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Lord of the Flies

Critics Reviews

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Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 01/01/2000
1.5/4
The symbolism is right up front and unmissable, and the story part -- the events that in theory should cause our throats to tighten and our pulses to quicken -- is pretty lame. Go to Full Review
Christie Cronan Common Sense Media 05/20/2024
Brutally violent, with a dark, overarching theme that may be difficult for kids to process, this adaptation is the scarier, more disturbing cousin of the 1963 film. Go to Full Review
Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 11/30/2022
The clumsiest film in recent memory... an irritating parody[Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Bruce C. Steele OutWeek 05/20/2020
Dialogue and actions that resonate in the novel and in the Peter Brook film version here fall lifeless onto the sandy beach. Go to Full Review
J.C. Maçek III PopMatters 05/21/2015
6/10
1963's Lord of the Flies was a transcendent experience in accurate filmmaking, 1990's Lord of the Flies is only a movie. Go to Full Review
Boyd van Hoeij european-films.net 04/02/2007
4/5
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Audience Reviews

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Bret M. @BretM-3 20h Let's get this out of the way, my perspective in this review is from someone who has read the book, so a lot of my thoughts and criticisms come from that point of view, if you haven't read the book, you probably won't get most of my problems with the movie. Now that that's outta the way, I think that this is a pretty bad adaptation of the novel. Let's start out with the runtime. The runtime is so short that none of the characters or plot points feel fleshed out the way they do in the book. For example, Simon is a super important character in the book, but because the film is so rushed he barely has any screentime or does anything up 'til the pig head scene. Speaking of that, the pig's head doesn't even talk to Simon! Without that scene, the title is virtually pointless and probably makes zero sense to moviegoing audiences who haven't read the book. I didn’t like this movie and don’t recommend it at least if you’ve read the book. See more Madeline T @maddiemaddieee Mar 14 I read this book for my tenth grade English class and was really excited to watch the movie. I'll admit I had high standards but I really thought it was awful. Hardly any lines or scenes are actually taken from the novel, and there's hardly any dialogue other than useless yapping full of swears. The way it cuts from one scene to another makes it appear as if there should've been something in between to tie it together making it feel confused like a cake with no icing. So many crucial moments were missing to the point where if I hadn't read the novel first I would've been beyond lost! An example being Simon and Piggy's deaths were ridiculously close together which made their descent into savagery so abrupt almost as if they were trying to be funny. I understand that the complexity and meaning of the novel would be really difficult to incorporate into a movie, and if the creators of this film had enough respect for the novel they would've known their work wasn't up to par. See more Thiana M @Thisna Dec 8 I absolutely love this movie, i understand why it is not viewed as the best adaptation of this book but the actors where great and the movie itself was great. See more elprox 1 @RT71340619 Aug 26 Horrendous movie. I give it 0 starts. See more 03/16/2025 Based on the best-selling book by William Golding The movie features a big collection of child actors whom are giving it their all with the material None of them are huge caliber names but they make the best of a dreaded situation A group of military youths end up getting shipwrecked in the ocean and stumble upon a deserted island with only 1 adult Their rankings are different from one another yet their survival will depend on them working together if they ever get rescued The child actors are really invested, the scenery is breathtaking, and the power struggle really shows when they each become desperate or corrupted by greed and control Some of the music is downright terrifying, too. I never read the book but it is scary how much division can occur being stranded, acting savage, and fighting for power. Tragedy can strike at any time when discipline, lack of control, and losing trust takes over. It's a mixture of kid and adult themes that's pretty intense. Not for everyone but the performances by the kids are a dime a dozen. See more Daniel N @RT24087858 02/13/2025 Old school but still awesome. Well made for its time and still watchable in 2025 See more Read all reviews
Lord of the Flies

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Movie Info

Synopsis In this updated take on William Golding's classic novel, a group of American military schoolboys become marooned on a remote island after a plane crash. While initially cooperative, after the discovery of a beast, the boys split into two warring camps, one headed by the liberal-minded Ralph (Balthazar Getty), the other by the militaristic Jack (Chris Furrh). Their society begins to descend into violence, and boys soon learn there's a thin line between society and savagery.
Director
Harry Hook
Producer
Ross Milloy, Lewis M. Allen
Screenwriter
Jay Presson Allen
Distributor
Columbia Pictures
Production Co
Castle Rock Entertainment
Rating
R
Genre
Adventure, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 16, 1990, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
May 4, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$12.3M
Runtime
1h 30m
Sound Mix
Surround, Stereo
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