GET AWAY (UK 2024) ***
Directed by Gordon Green
Writers Simon Pegg and Nick Frost collaborated in the past in the British TV series sitcom SPACED. They reunite in this hilarious comedy horror, at least part of it anyway, a genre they are both expert in, about British family holidays with a bed and breakfast on the island of Svalta (the original title of the film) in Sweden only to find themselves the victim of a serial killer on the loose. Svalta is a fictitious Swedish island. Though set in Sweden, the film was shot in Tampere, a southern city in Finland.
This is the isle of Svälta during Karantan (likely meaning quarantine) celebrations, including an hours-long stage play. The Smiths are intruders during Svälta’s remembrance of a cruel British-imposed quarantine that killed many locals and pushed the rest into cannibalism. As Islanders practice their scenes, workshop props, and execute ceremonial traditions, the Smiths focus on having fun and bonding as a family!
What makes it very funny and different is not the story but the characters that make up the family. Richard is a sweet bearded guy wearing glasses who seems to be a real dork, but a lovable one, while the wife quotes from all kinds of material trying to impress anyone, but not her kids.
The film opens with a woman carrying a bay surrounded by strange and ugly human beings, They torment her. She screams. The film fast-forwarded 200 years later. A family the Smiths, led by the father Richard (played by co-writer Nick Frost) takes his family on holiday to an island in Sweden. They are all excited but things turn weird. At the ferry port, the restaurant owner discourages them warning them to turn back and not go to the island. Richard insists otherwise, as he had booked the family with a bed and breakfast. On the ferry, all the other passengers stare disapprovingly at the family. Anyone in their right mind would have turned back or run for their lives. But this is a movie and the family decide to grin and bear it. At the island, things get worse with a funny unwelcome welcome where the villagers tell the Smith family to basically fuck off led by an old woman, an elder (played tongue-in-cheek by Anitta Suikkari) who ends up licking Richard’s wife’s face. Apparently, she rules the island and all the islanders respect her. Then Matt, the owner of the air band, appears and tells the village that he had rented them from his late mother's house. That is not allowed in the rules of the commune, Matt is warned who replies that they do not own the island.
Matt is also as weird as they come which adds too the hilarity especially when he starts hitting on the daughter. Matt also wears women’s clothing. All this has happened and the serial killer has not arrived yet. The script offers plenty of opportunity for humour which are taken uo well.
There is a huge twist in the story midway (which will not be revealed in this review). Unfortunately, the film goes haywire from this point. Even in an insane movie, there must be some point of sanity for things to make sense. This is where the film fails.
GET AWAY is on December 6th.
Trailer:
