I expected very little of this film, and its current viewer rating of 5 suggests it is mediocre, but it isn't at all. It constantly shifts your expectations. At first it looks like it's going to be about (failed) relationships, then we get pagan festivals meets social media - bound to be a conflict there; then it swerves again into alpha brother and sibling rivalry - all the time you are waiting for the angle the plot is going to follow to become clear, but it doesn't click into gear until it wanders into Straw Dogs territory, and even then it still manages body swerves of the unexpected. It constantly throws up red herrings so that it keeps you on your toes, and while none of them are original it manages to make them original by its off-key take on them.
It also has a terrific laugh-out-loud black humour, which I suspect many people will mistakenly think is a failure of the script to make the characters endearing. I spent the entirety of the dinner party scenes whooping with delight at the outrageous provocations of their sly little barbarities against each other. It really does make you question, as I suspect it's meant to, who the real barbarians are here.
The only place it falls down a little is in the ending, which feels a teeny bit flat, and which viewers might not forgive them for after the build-up, but other than that it is surprisingly gripping. A real subtle little slow-burner which I hope gets more recognition.
It also has a terrific laugh-out-loud black humour, which I suspect many people will mistakenly think is a failure of the script to make the characters endearing. I spent the entirety of the dinner party scenes whooping with delight at the outrageous provocations of their sly little barbarities against each other. It really does make you question, as I suspect it's meant to, who the real barbarians are here.
The only place it falls down a little is in the ending, which feels a teeny bit flat, and which viewers might not forgive them for after the build-up, but other than that it is surprisingly gripping. A real subtle little slow-burner which I hope gets more recognition.