Rating: C-
Dir: Steffen Haars
Star: Nick Frost, Aisling Bea, Sebastian Croft, Maisie Ayres
Written by Frost, this is something of an odd animal. It begins with the Smith family heading to the remote Swedish island of Svälta, where the residents are about to have their Karantan festival, marking the anniversary of a lethal quarantine, which ended in death and cannibalism. Dad Richard (Frost), mum Susan (Bea), and children Sam (Croft) and Jessie (Ayres), seem utterly oblivious to the danger signs. Everyone on the way there tries to warn them off, and from the moment they step onto the ferry there, the residents are openly hostile to the Smiths. We’ve seen this kind of set-up before, from The Wicker Man through to Midsommar. As Sam complains, “We’ve come on holiday to a Swedish horror film.” You know how it’s going to end.
Or do you? I definitely figured out where it was heading before the film got to a final reel that stands in complete opposition to the slow-burn horror-comedy of the first hour. And it’s slow in both the horror and comedy angles. In one corner, you have the Smiths, who adopt a typically British, stiff upper-lip approach and persist in trying to enjoy their holiday. In the other, you have the locals, and their own tensions as they prep for Karantan. Both are only marginally interesting; Shaun of the Dead, this is not – it was blisteringly effective during its build-up, before the zombies apocalypse properly arrived. Here, it’s more of a holding pattern.
The abrupt change in tone, pace and direction which eventually shows up, might have been more effective, if I hadn’t recently seen another film which pulled a similar trick; I guess that link is a spoiler for both. When this does, it is still entertaining enough on its own terms. However, I didn’t feel the shift being held back for so long added much to the movie. Indeed, if Frost’s script had put its cards on the table and gone down that road from the beginning, it could potentially have been both funnier and more horrific. It would have made for a strong counterpoint to the cheerfully banal family chit-chat, as the parents bicker with their kids about cellphones, diet and using bad language.
Frost is as likeable as ever, and that keeps proceedings grounded, through the spells where it seems to be flailing about in search of an identity. But again, this spends sixty minutes largely repeating genre clichés, before finally getting round to attempting to subvert them. I have to say, there’s something perhaps a little in questionable taste, about the gleefully hateful, stalking and murder of a large number of innocents on a Scandinavian island. Or maybe it’s just me getting Anders Breivik Family vibes. On the other hand, the gore is nicely done, with an exploding head, followed in quick succession by a blown-off arm, which are just lovely. In the end though, it’s nowhere near as good as the films it’s aping.