Get Away

"Get Away" is a twisted folk horror flick with an unforgettable ending.

Nothing blurs the line between sanity and insanity quite like reviewing a film after days of being stuck at home sick. Sometimes the wrong movie hits at just the right time; other times, the right movie finds you at the worst moment. I’ve experienced both — but rarely does a movie’s twist come so far out of left field that it forces me to rewatch it just to confirm it wasn’t a fever dream.

Enter “Get Away,” a folk horror-comedy written by and starring British comedy icon Nick Frost (and yes, I’ll throw fisticuffs with anyone who argues he’s not an icon), directed by Steffen Haars. This marks the duo's second collaboration, and it’s a bizarre ride that follows Richard (Frost) and his family as they travel to a small Swedish island for the Festival of Karantän (Quarantine). This 8-hour festival/play reenacts the island’s grim history, when quarantine led to starvation - and ultimately cannibalism. And people call me sadistic for my love of Disney World.

Richard, his wife Susan (Aisling Bea), son Sam (Sebastian Croft), and daughter Jessie (Maisie Ayres) arrive to find the island's locals less than welcoming. The hostile mob, led by commune leader Klara (Anitta Suikkari), makes it clear the visitors aren’t wanted. They’re “rescued” by their peculiar rental host Matts (Eero Milonoff), who ushers them into their temporary home. But he quickly proves as unnerving as the islanders.

Undeterred, the Smiths are determined to make it a vacation to remember and by the end, it will definitely be one they won’t forget. As Jessie declares in the film's final moments, it’s the "best vacation ever."
Awww!

The Smiths' stay is plagued by increasingly strange encounters, including torch-wielding villagers leaving dead animals on their doorstep. Their host, Matts, is revealed to have cameras monitoring their every move, draws even more suspicions from the Smiths.. Is he merely a creep — or something far worse? Meanwhile, Richard’s desperation hints at deeper troubles within the family. “It’s been a helluva year,” he says, as if they’re running from something — or perhaps to something.

As the Festival of Karantän approaches, Klara tries to rally her followers to sacrifice the guests. But the commune is growing weary of her adherence to the “old ways,” leaving Klara to rely on the Smiths’ unhinged host to carry out her plans. Seizing the opportunity to regain favor with the commune, he bakes "special" treats for his guests and all while donning Jessie’s stolen bra and underwear. (Yes, really.)

Up to this point, the film is bizarre, uneven, and occasionally dull, its saving grace being the cast’s pitch-perfect performances. If the movie ended here, I’d give it an okay rating, commend the actors, and hope Nick Frost finds a project better suited to his talents.

But then “Get Away” pivots so hard it broke both my ankles and left me gleefully wondering what the hell just happened.

Now comes the tricky part: do I spoil the film’s gloriously unhinged final act — or leave you hanging? Decisions, decisions. OK, I’ll do a little of both, so stick with me.

The Festival of Karantän features a blood fountain that soaks the stage, the performers, and the audience. It’s macabre and messy, but nothing compared to the chaos about to erupt. As Klara hoped, this will be a festival no one forgets.
The final act is where Frost’s writing, the cast, and the story truly shine. It’s a delirious sequence of bloody murders, shocking twists, and schlocky goodness. It feels as though Frost and Haars purposefully lulled us to sleep with the first two acts, only to gleefully unleash a chaos-filled confetti cannon in the third act and I absolutely loved it.

The final 30 minutes elevate “Get Away” from middling to memorable. My only wish is that the entire movie embraced that same level of unhinged energy.

“Get Away” has its uneven moments, and takes awhile to get to the good bits, but its final act reaches a level of insanity that schlock fans are bound to adore.