Director: Christopher Smith
Starring: Melissa George, Michael Dorman, Rachael Carpani, Henry Nixon, Emma Lung,Liam Hemsworth. UK. 1h 39m
At first glance it would seem that the title seems to refer to the Bermuda Triangle, where puzzling things seem to happen at sea, but really if this film deserved an apt title it would be Loop but that would sound stupid.. so triangle it is. The film is quite smart and even with rounds of repetition it’s still interestingly constructed, sly and a fairly deep piece from British Director Christopher Smith who gave us deeply disturbing projects such as Creep (2004).
Set in the US, with a totally Aussie/New Zealand crew, there are a few accent faux pas but they are totally acceptable in the time loop chiller, that seems to be a cross between Ghost Ship (2002) and Donnie Darko (2001), that sees a group of youngsters take a jaunt on a fancy yacht and run into curious difficulties.
Melissa George plays Jess, a single mother to an autistic child, her patience wains as she tries to get the child to school so she can join her friends on the trip, the loving mother is at the end of her tether and needs the break.
Onboard the champagne flows and the group being to enjoy their journey while doing a bit of matchmaking, until they are hit by a freak storm, their boat overturns and they end up climbing onto the overturned boat until the weather improves, then from nowhere a retro ocean liner passes, seemly deserted they climb aboard.
Walking around the Art Deco-Kubrickian style corridors the eerie boat start to reveal dark paranoid secrets. There seems to be someone from the future on board trying to kill them, although this creepy killer runs around with a shotgun and bag over their heads, and the time loop is creating replicas of the people on board leading to some epic piles of doppelganger corpses.
Things get messy and examine pretty complicated and without conclusion for way too long. With films that repeat themselves this way it’s most enjoyable if the main characters can make some progression. Melissa’s performance is pretty convincing, as she scutters around the ship, desperate to make it out of this nightmare to get home to her son at any cost, but will making it to dry land really be the answer to this conundrum. it certainly doesn’t answer the puzzle of the missing girl from the group, but despite the plot hole there are some great scare and shivers to be had.
Rating 4/10
Related: Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Dead End (2003), Primer (2004), Ghost Ship (2002) Donnie Darko (2001), St Agatha (2018)
Lists: Time Loop Movies
Spotlight: Melissa George
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