Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Steffen Haars
Starring: Nick Frost, Aisling Bea, Sebastian Croft, Eero Milonoff, Maisie Ayres
Every horror fad eventually gets its own parody. The Universal horrors
of the 1930s and '40s hit an abrupt end when the monsters were paired
with comic duo Abbot & Costello. In the late '60s, Hammer's gothic
horrors had the mickey taken out of them by Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers and Carry On Screaming. The wave of post-Scream slashers ultimately gave us the Scary Movie series. Folk-horror has made a big comeback in recent years so
it's no surprise to see that sub-genre get a ribbing courtesy of
the Nick Frost-scripted Get Away (directed by Steffen Haars).
Taking its cues from the likes of Midsommar and The Wicker Man, Get Away sees a holidaying family run into trouble when they interrupt the
folk traditions of the native population of Svalta, a remote Swedish
island. The family in question, the Smiths, are straight out of National Lampoon's Vacation or a '90s sitcom, with the classic template of oafish dad Richard
(Frost), his improbably attractive wife Susan (Aisling Bea), and
their bickering teenage kids Jessie (Maisie Ayres) and Sam (Sebastian Croft).
Ignoring the customary pleas of some mainland locals to stay away from
Svalta, the Smiths take a ferry to the island, where they've booked a
stay at an AirBnB. They're immediately greeted by a group of angry, only
short of torch-wielding islanders who demand that they return to the
mainland. The locals are set to perform their annual celebration of
repelling some British invaders 200 years ago, and they don't want any
interlopers around, certainly not Brits.
For at least its first half, Get Away is an amusing send-up of the tone deaf ignorance of Brits who
naively decide to holiday in parts of the world once ravaged by their
ancestors, oblivious to how their presence might be received by the
natives. In a face-palming attempt to endear herself to the locals,
Susan claims to be a descendant of one of the British sailors who
arrived on the island two centuries ago, which is a bit like telling
Native-Americans you're descended from the first person to bring
blankets to the New World. That Bea performs in her Irish accent
somewhat muddies this aspect however. That said, Bea is the comic
highlight of Get Away, her sarcastic Irish tone providing most of the laughs.
Get Away takes its cues from the Abbot & Costello monster movies and
the horror-adjacent comedies of Bob Hope in how it essentially drops the protagonists of a comedy into
pretty much a straight-up horror movie. The locals are genuinely
intimidating, with the film wisely refusing to portray them as anything
other than an ominous threat to the Smiths. We also get the distinctive
Finnish actor Eero Milonoff (you may recognise his
unique features from Ali Abbasi's Border) in an unsettling turn as Mats, an AirBnB owner who makes Norman Bates
seem like a superhost in comparison. Oh, and there just happens to be an
escaped serial killer at large on the island.
Audiences will likely be divided by a final act twist. While I have to
admit it caught me by surprise, it also irked me as it falls apart once
you start thinking about how certain characters have behaved prior to
that point. If you didn't know Frost was the scriptwriter you'll be all
too aware once this left turn takes the film into over-the-top
bloodletting scored to an Iron Maiden needle drop. The climax is clearly
inspired by Frosts' collaborations with director Edgar Wright, but Haars
lacks Wright's skills in combining comedy with action
choreography.
Get Away's title can be read threefold. It refers to a holiday break and to a
literal warning. But "get away" is also how a Brit might react to a
particularly shaggy dog story. As Haars and Frost's film loses its way
in the final act, you might find yourself reacting in similar
fashion.
Get Away is on Sky Cinema from
January 10th.
