Movie Review: GET AWAY

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: January 10th, 2025 / 05:55 PM

Rating: R
Stars: Nick Frost, Aisling Bea, Sebastian Croft, Maisie Ayres, Ville Vertanen, Eero Milonoff, Anitta Suikkari, Jouko Ahola, Verneri Lilja, Ilkka Koivula
Writer: Nick Frost
Director: Steffen Haars
Distributor: IFC Films
Release Date: December 6, 2024 (theatrical); January 10, 2024 (Shudder)

It’s easy to see how GET AWAY is supposed to work. It starts out as a parody of THE WICKER MAN/MIDSOMMAR type of folk horror, with a big twist at the two-thirds mark. It looks great, has the pedigree of SHAUN OF THE DEAD costar/PAUL cowriter/costar Nick Frost as star and writer, and plenty of mileage in its overlapping concepts.

GET AWAY starts by telling us that “Svälta” in Swedish means “to starve.” It’s also the name of a secluded Swedish island that was the site of a terrible 19^th-century tragedy, a two-and-a-half-year quarantine that caused many islanders to die or resort to cannibalism.

200 years later, the island observes the festival of Karantän every ten years, an eight-hour performance ritual commemorating the catastrophe.

This is a Karantän year, and couple Richard (Frost) and Susan Smith (Aisling Bea) are determined to spend their “get away” holiday on the island, observing the event. Their two teens, Jessie (Maisie Ayres) and Sam (Sebastian Croft), are less enthusiastic, but don’t actively rebel.

Richard and Susan persist, even when the harbor diner’s owner (Ilkka Koivula) on the mainland tries to warn them away. The islanders don’t like outsiders at the best of times, and the Karantän is a sacred rite.

It can’t be all that exclusive, Richard argues, as Svälta islander Matts (Eero Milonoff) has rented Richard’s family a house for the three-day weekend.

The ferry to the island, which won’t return for three days, is full of extremely grim-faced Svälta residents, including the menacing Johan (Tero Jartti).

The group of islanders waiting to meet the ferry is even more forbidding, with the weathered Klara (Anitta Suikkari) insistent that the Smiths turn around and leave. But Richard and Susan stand firm.

The rental house, in the middle of the woods, is very charming, though jovial host Matts is pretty creepy.

Under Steffen Haars’s direction, GET AWAY (actually shot in Finland) is visually beautiful, with wonderful buildings and ritual costumes that appear to be centuries old. Although it’s something of a slow burn getting there, the action is dynamic and the gore (for horror fans who are into this) is plentiful.

Also, the plot twist is legitimate and huge.

But there are a few issues. The two that come up first are the islanders and the Smiths themselves. Conceptually, the notion of a solemn, secretive cult squabbling about details of what they’ll be doing is amusing, but in GET AWAY, the jokes somehow don’t land. This means that, while Suikkari is impressive in her fury, the cult itself is not intrinsically hilarious, and its divisiveness means it’s not scary, either.

For their part, the Smiths are pretty Britcom, albeit they do have some surprising dialogue on occasion. We get that they are intended to be horror movie victim-oblivious, and culturally insensitive to boot. Richard and Susan also refer to each other as “Mummy” and “Daddy.” If cringey humor appeals, it’s here; if that’s not one’s cup of comedic tea, these people are a bit of a slog.

So, by the time something big happens, there’s no one we particularly like, hate (okay, Matts is pretty unpleasant), or even fear. We’re not rooting for or against anybody, just mildly curious. GET AWAY is clever, and its combination of sensibilities is intriguing, but it’s never really thrilling or funny.

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Visually handsome but uneven horror comedy

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Article: Movie Review: GET AWAY

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