Director: Steffen Haars
Year: 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher; Horror/Comedy
Plot:
Heading off on vacation, a family arrives on a Swedish island that is in the middle of celebrating the anniversary of a tragic incident in their past which is done against the will of the locals, but when a serial killer strikes the island and forces them to set the traditions aside to stop it.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly solid and likable enough feature. One of the better elements of this one comes from the solid setup that allows for a rather enjoyable time getting this one going. The backstory about the island being subjected to a deadly virus and subsequently adopting a series of traditions and beliefs since that presides over their community makes for a fun time here that gives us a chance to get to know them. As this is done alongside the bits involving the family going around the island upsetting everyone while focusing more on their holiday trip and trying to keep their kids in line offers a fine touch to the first half. While it's thankfully not portrayed liked willful ignorance of their customs but played off as trying to keep their vacation in order which means they inadvertently offend or disrupt their attention, this creates a fine fish-out-of-water scenario that allows us a chance to see the island's superstitions while also getting the picturesque settings as they go about their trip.
Once it starts going for the slasher setup of the killer running loose on the island, it has some fun setpieces that play off the visual iconography of the islanders. The scenes showing the colorful ceremonial wooden masks, which are comically oversized and distorted with unnatural expressions, offer up an imposing start with their eerie qualities. As it's a mystery why the family is staying there when they're clearly unwanted due to the connection between the purpose of the festival and the imposing outsiders coming for the island, everything adds a menacing air that gets paid off with the reveal about real nature of the killers which brings about a spectacular series of encounters running wild on the island with plenty of blood and gore for the occasion. This is made all the more enjoyable with the outright glee and demented comedic offerings that are featured here and all make for a generally solid time here.
This one does have some drawbacks holding it back. Among its main factors is the lacking pace that renders much of the first hour here devoid of genre material. There are only eerie references about what the island is preparing for and the truth about their customs that denote the only hints that this is a genre feature with the rest of the film focusing on the vacationing family stumbling around the island upsetting the locals and their customs. That doesn't leave much of a chance to get any kind of hint about what's going on so everything that takes place has more of a comedy tone than anything to get more of this type of material present. The other drawback to this one is a series of bizarre twists featured in the finale to keep the family alive as how it plays out captures some outrageous luck that borders on unbelievable to keep them alive so it can be slightly tiring. Those are enough to bring it down slightly.
Overview: ****/5
A rather fun mix of wacky comedy and slasher feature, there’s a lot to like here with a few small flaws that are present holding this one back not having a big impact on this one overall. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre fare, are curious about it, or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like with it while those turned off by these factors should heed caution.
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