The first adaptation of the book of the same name, “Lord of the Flies” copies and pastes scenes and dialog from the novel but fails to capture it in spirit due to the horrid acting. “Lord of the Flies” is an interesting story but here it is presented in a primitive fashion with all the heart sucked out.

In “Lord of the Flies”, the world is being torn apart by war as a plane full of male, British children crash-lands on an island. With no adults around, the boys must decide how they are going to survive and what they are going to do if being rescued is an option. Over time the group separate as mankind’s inner savagery rises to the surface.

The acting in “Lord of the Flies” kills the film as the children here read their lines as if they’re news presenters; the young actors fail to display any emotion or conviction in their performances and as a result, they eradicate any chance of conveying the real struggle told through the story. Tom Chapin is easily the worst as Jack and I’m not at all surprised that I can’t find any other film attached to his name in any way.

This movie doesn’t really take any poetic license when it comes to differentiating it from the book but one thing I found odd is the briefness of the titular character. In the book he or it has lines and here the character features in only a few measly shots. “Lord of the Flies” could have worked well as a film if it did cast such incompetent youth because that is what is holding it back as I could have easily seen myself enjoying it had that issue been seen to. I would love to know what the author of the book thought of it.