Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel’s Mystery Island returns with another entry in the series that pits the Mystery Island crew against a new team of creators as the Mystery Island franchise seeks to expand its reach by offering patrons a different location in which to solve a murder — Mystery Mountain. Not to worry though, everyone is staying put on the island.
In Mystery Island: House Rules, there is some concern from Emilia and Jason that a few actual murders that occurred during previous games — and it’s only a handful out of dozens of successful games that did not end in someone actually dying — may harm bookings at the island for murder mystery parties. On the contrary, Jane tells them that bookings have actually increased as the sense of danger seems to be adding to the excitement of the game. Whatever floats your boat. Things are going so well, in fact, that the company is looking to expand, giving patrons a different location in which to solve a murder — Mystery Mountain. The property has already been purchased somewhere in Colorado, and a team has been assembled, counterparts to the Mystery Island team: Dex Longstreth (in the Jane role), Regan Jones (the Jason counterpart), Inga Sorenson (major domo Morgan’s counterpart), Dr. Stanley Williams (the Emilia counterpart) and Khaleef Brooks (in the Carlos role). The Mystery Island team also has a new member, Tom Robinson (perhaps a replacement for Simons in Play for Keeps), and of course Carlos is back as well. Emilia and Jason aren’t really keen on packing up and heading to Colorado to oversee the new team, but Jane has some terrific news for them — the Mystery Mountain team are coming to the island to run their game so the pros can see how it plays out and if it is worthy of the company’s name. Perhaps another reason Emilia doesn’t want to leave the island is because she has just relocated there from London as a permanent resident. The reason being two-fold: her involvement in a real serial killer case has put her own life in danger so the island seems to be the safest place for her. It also doesn’t hurt that her relationship with Jason is deepening and the move gives them a chance to continue to explore their feelings, while also trying to keep their working relationship as writers for Mystery Island on a professional level. But during an evening out with Jason, Emilia sees a figure in a hoodie who she feels may be following them although she doesn’t say anything to Jason to keep him from worrying about her.
The Mystery Mountain team arrives and introductions are made. One thing that sets the new group apart from the established group is their embrace of technology. Mystery Island likes to keep things in a classic Agatha Christie-style setting, no cell phones, no internet, while Mystery Mountain uses all the technology available — including holograms — to bring the game into a more modern setting, giving the visitors a completely different experience. While the regular staff is cleared out, Jane informs the main crew that they will not be leaving as they will be the ones playing the game, but no one is quite sure if the game has actually started (and it may have started long before anyone realized). And why on earth is there a bust of the late Mystery Island founder in the grand lobby? As everyone gathers for dinner, they are given phones and are told that when they receive a message, the game begins (Dex has also installed a Bluetooth device for the phones as there is no cell service at the resort location). Everyone makes some small talk to get to know each other, but things become heated when Regan reveals that Inga has a criminal record, accusing Dex of not properly vetting his team. Inga storms off and Dex follows to try to get to the bottom of things, which puts some serious concerns into the Island crew wondering if the Mountain crew is truly viable, not wanting something as major as this to besmirch the name. They return and learn that Inga was involved in an automobile accident that resulted in a death but she was exonerated. Regan says she would have also revealed that had Inga not gotten so upset and dashed out of the room.
With that settled, the phones light up and each participant has a letter which Emilia correctly guesses is an anagram they need to solve. One thing leads to another and the group is directed to the patio where they are greeted by a hologram that has three riddles the group must solve to come to a conclusion for the game. And these riddles are very complicated and require a vast knowledge of literature … which is luckily up Emilia’s alley. As the group enters the library, they begin to pour over the clues but when Emilia removes a book from the shelf, seconds later Regan is hit in the neck with a dart laced with honey, causing her to go into anaphylactic shock … and die. Why would someone want to kill Regan, and who could have put the trap in the room? It means only one thing — someone among the participants is the killer. (There’s also another element to Regan’s death and that is she is the only person who knows how the game is supposed to end, so without her it makes things all the more difficult.) The group leaves the room but returns in short order and … the body is gone. Who could have removed it if they were all together? Emilia begins to think her troubles from London have followed her to the island, especially when Stanley brings up the serial killer, and that he also recognizes Tom as a student at the university where he taught. While the group tries to solve Regan’s murder — Emilia soon realizes the dart was meant for her as she is allergic to honey and Regan stepped next to her just before the dart was fired — and solve the riddles of the game, Dex becomes the next victim (his bloody hat is found but not his body), and Stanley becomes a prime suspect, to the point that Jason locks him in a storage room for everyone’s safety. Yet someone who knows the code gets into the room and murders Stanley as well, a bullet hole and blood spatter on the wall but, again, no body which leaves just Inga and Khaleef alive and suspects from the Mystery Mountain crew, and newbie Tom as a suspect — though he denies knowing Stanley or that he ever took a class with him as professor — from the Mystery Island crew. Who could it be, and why are they taking the bodies? Is there another game afoot, and can Emilia, Jason, Morgan and Jane solve it before they also become victims?
Hallmark Channel
By now the Mystery Island franchise is set with the storylines following an established pattern — people come to the island to play a game, someone (or many) people die and the staff has to figure out whodunit. Mystery Island: House Rules does expand on the format with the introduction of the Mystery Mountain crew — could this be a possible backdoor pilot for a new companion series of films — and puts a clever twist on the murder mystery aspect. Writer John Christian Plummer works hard to keep us guessing as to what is going on, even if the answer really should be quite obvious, and the introduction of the use of modern technology adds a new element. Director Clare Niederpruem also does a nice job of building the mystery and using the island locations with great expertise.
At this point with movie number four, the main cast has established their characters and knows them like the back of their hands. Elizabeth Henstridge, Charlie Weber, and Kezia Burrows are charming as ever, and it’s nice to see the romance — this is Hallmark after all — between Emilia and Jason develop over time rather than having them rush into something by the end of the movie. Suanne Braun is back for her second go-round as Morgan, and she always comes off as very invested in the game as well as for the well-being of the crew and the business itself. Francisco Labbe also returns as Carlos after skipping the previous movie. Adding a newcoming in the form of Tom only makes the viewer immediately eye him as a suspect. Edward Franklin plays Tom with both a wide-eyed amazement at the whole operation, and a jittery nervousness as things go awry and he is considered a suspect, possibly in an attempt to deflect Tom’s guilt. Will he be around for another Mystery Island movie?
The Mystery Mountain group do a good job with their roles for the most part. Even though they are all counterparts, each actor makes their characters different from the established crew. Jules Knight’s Dex projects an air of confidence, knowing that Jane has been doing this for a while so he needs to make her feel he can handle the job or Mystery Mountain goes on without him. But Knight shows that confidence is all bravado that quickly crumbles when Regan is murdered, and that makes him a bit more endearing to the audience. Ava Brennan, as Jason counterpart Regan, gives her character a bit too much confidence, a bit too smug when announcing Inga’s criminal past, but that means the audience does not feel too much sympathy or loss when she is murdered. So on that point, Brennan is successful. Donald Sage Mackay, as Emilia’s counterpart Dr. Stanley Williams, also seems to be trying too hard to impress Emilia and Jane with his game writing skills and background in studying criminal behavior which also seems to be a way to direct, or misdirect, everyone including the viewer to assume his guilt. Sophie Meister is fine as Morgan’s counterpart Inga, but after he reaction to the revelation of her past, she’s mostly reduced to “we need to stay together”, “we need to split up”, “we should all stay together” mode which seems more like game play than actual reactions to what is going on. Hadrian Howard is also fine a Khaleef, but he is also often made to act suspiciously — like being discovered by Jason while roaming the grounds at night when everyone is supposed to be in their rooms — but he has to play his part in the game as well.
In the end, Mystery Island: House Rules is another fun outing for the franchise with a new spin on the established murder mystery story, also working as a nice set-up for what could potentially be a new franchise for Hallmark with alternating Island and Mountain movies.
Mystery Island: House Rules has a run time of 1 hour 23 minutes, and is rated TV-PG. The film is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview – Mystery Island: House Rules
Hallmark Channel