Monday, October 06, 2014

Triangle

Triangle (2009) ***1/2

One thing I find myself doing a lot during Horrorthon is surfing cable to see if there's anything on that sounds remotely scary, and then just watching that. It's like a middle school weekend all over again.

So the other night I came across this haunted ship movie just as it was starting, and it turned out to be a decent hour and half of moody violent creepiness. A group of friends take refuge on a seemingly empty ship after their own sailboat capsizes, and then start immediately getting stalked around the place by a shotgun wielding freak in a sack mask.

But the movie has more in store for the viewers than a simple ghost ship or slasher story. It turns out to be more like a Twilight Zone episode, with the group caught in a sort of Groundhog Day loop where they keep ending up in this same terrible situation over and over again. This leads to one of my favorite horror scenes in recent memory, in which a dying girl with a shotgun blast hole in her gut crawls into a room to hide, and has to drag herself over dozens of dead bodies, all with identical shotgun wounds, and all of whom are of course HER.

In truth, it's probably more of a 3star movie, but that scene got it the extra half star. There's a motivating subplot involving the main character and possible schizophrenia and her love for her autistic son that I didn't really get into.

Incidentally, I just noticed that this was directed by Christopher Smith, who also directed Severance, which a few of us reviewed a few years ago. I don't think Triangle is quite up to that level, but it's pretty worth your time.

6 comments:

Trevor said...

Forgot I had seen this until your review. I forgot that scene of the girl with the shotgun blast too. That was good. The maudlin stuff with the kid seemed tacked on to make the protagonist seem desperate. Shame. Good review!

Catfreeek said...

I find myself trolling for films as well, middle school weekend is a great way to describe it. Sounds like you stumbled on a good one, I think I've seen this too it sounds familiar.

JPX said...

I liked this film as well! I like the shot with all the dead seagulls. You're on fire this year, Landshark!

DKC said...

Wow, sounds like it's definitely worth a look. You have had some solid choices this year, Landshark. Way to score with a random pick!

AC said...

love the casualness of the find! adds to the pleasure.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

I freakin' loved this movie and that scene is unforgettable.

Malevolent

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