Get Away is a generally fun horror/comedy with an under-utilized twist.
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One of the common refrains for someone who is either about to go on vacation or wants to take a vacation is that they want to "get away from it all." They want to disconnect from the grind of daily life, work and politics and find a place where they can forget that for a bit. I think this is the big appeal of staying in a cabin in the woods for a bit. Escape from civilization. Recharge and recover. Come back to your day to day refreshed. And those red flags you might've noticed about your lovely little cabin? You can ignore those. This is the general mindset for today's horror/comedy Get Away.
The Setup
The film follows a family of four that are embarking on a vacation to an isolated Swedish island to witness their yearly celebration and play. But there are red flags everywhere. No one seems to want them there, to the point of outward hostility and their host may be a creep. But worst of all, the town may be looking to include the family in their tradition, whether they like it or not.
I'm torn on Get Away. I don't think it's bad, because I had plenty of fun watching it. But I think it's uneven. Why? Because I think the movie is more focused on unpacking its twists/reveals that it is on crafting its story.
Here's what I mean.
As soon as our British family meets a single person even familiar with the island, they are greeted with hostility. They're told not to go there, that they should turn around and go home and that the islanders do not like visitors. Very negative vibe all around. A vibe that's only enhanced once we get a flashback to said local and he's been butchered in his restaurant.
But that's just one mystery the movie is hanging onto. Because once the family gets to the island, they start to get off vibes from their host including how forward he is towards the daughter and a needle breaking level of social awkwardness. And that's before the daughter feels like she's being watched. Which means we have another ongoing mystery.
And a mystery that's been introduced at the very beginning is...what does this ceremony entail? The heavy implication being that it involves some degree of human sacrifice, which might be the reason that restaurant fella got killed, or could be a violent parolee who was just let out.
It's a near movie long game of "who's the biggest shithead," or "find the slasher villain" that's peppered with enough awkward interactions and family dynamics to lighten things up after an ominous reveal.
So what's the problem? Well the problem is the movie's final twist, which I'm about to spoil, because you kinda need to know it to understand why I'm not 100% behind the movie.
*Giant Spoiler Alert Ahead*
Something you'll probably notice right away is that our British family seem...stupid. They've been given the Swedish equivalent of the creepy gas station attendant telling them to avoid that place over there and ignored it. They arrived at the island to the entire community looking at them like they have three heads. And even when the locals try to spook them or the daughter feels like she's being creeped on by their AirBnB host, they plow through the awkwardness. No one is this dumb right? Even when a body shows up on shore they are completely blasé about it. It's stupid to the point of suspicion.
And as it turns out, it is very very suspicious. Because this family has chosen this island and their community to be hunted and killed for sport.
And while the community leader was trying to sacrifice the family in the ceremony (or harm them in some way) and their AirBnB host is a creep who spies on the family via cameras and one way mirrors, this is all misdirection for the real villains. Because they're here to kill everyone and were the folks responsible for the restaurant massacre as well.
Not a bad twist by itself and it leads to a number of darkly funny scenes where Nick Frost and Aisling Bea's husband and wife talk about how much they "really needed this" or "should've gotten into shape for this" as they hack through innocent people running for their lives. It's very similar to a twist from a movie called Lowlifes that I really enjoyed.
The reason it doesn't quite work is a bunch of very rushed world-building.
Because according to this family, this whole affair is an arranged and paid for thing from top to bottom. This includes the parolee who's been released, and will take the rap for the whole affair and even the "son" who is actually an add-on that's not a part of this family.
All of which implies that there's a service that offers this to clients that has incredible/immense power and influence that likely caters to people with equal levels of money and power. And that element means there's a bunch of thematic potential that's introduced and never followed up on, because of how late this reveal is. Especially because the entire celebration this island engages in is about some English traders lying to them about a threat. Oh sweet irony.
And while that's darkly ironic and funny, it's also a missed opportunity in my book. In particular what I'll dub "colonial tourism." One of the things that irks me about a lot of modern vacation culture is an emphasis on "authentic" experiences. Where people who are not part of a culture, more or less ask to be a part of the native/local cultural experience. Which leads to a terrifying feedback loop where native/indigenous/local people will play things up to appeal to the tourists, which makes things less authentic and so on.
So I really like the idea that this family could be pushing through this discomfort with the hostile locals because they feel like they deserve to see it. Because they spent their money and they "need this." But you can't really do that when you're trying to misdirect the audience away from said family by making members of the community either just as bad or bad in different ways.
If anything it feels like all of this rudeness and perhaps homicidal intent is to lessen the blow when the killing starts so the audience can more or less enjoy the slaughter. I mean these people left a dead raccoon on their doorstep, it's not like they didn't do anything to this nice family...of murderers.
And while that's darkly ironic and funny, it's also a missed opportunity in my book. In particular what I'll dub "colonial tourism." One of the things that irks me about a lot of modern vacation culture is an emphasis on "authentic" experiences. Where people who are not part of a culture, more or less ask to be a part of the native/local cultural experience. Which leads to a terrifying feedback loop where native/indigenous/local people will play things up to appeal to the tourists, which makes things less authentic and so on.
So I really like the idea that this family could be pushing through this discomfort with the hostile locals because they feel like they deserve to see it. Because they spent their money and they "need this." But you can't really do that when you're trying to misdirect the audience away from said family by making members of the community either just as bad or bad in different ways.
If anything it feels like all of this rudeness and perhaps homicidal intent is to lessen the blow when the killing starts so the audience can more or less enjoy the slaughter. I mean these people left a dead raccoon on their doorstep, it's not like they didn't do anything to this nice family...of murderers.
Am I overthinking this silly movie? Absolutely. But I think it's a great example of a fun movie that could've been great...if only someone took a second look at the script.
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