Following the suitably grungy, nasty DEATHLINE homage CREEP and the witty SEVERANCE – reworking the dark 9-5 humour of THE OFFICE into a backwoods horror framework – writer/director Chris Smith continues to show his versatility while staying within the genre he loves. TRIANGLE is a disorientating mind fuck that cannily (and atmospherically) sets itself up as an eerie, supernatural Bermuda Triangle movie, with a strong echo of nautical horrors DEATH SHIP and GHOST SHIP. It’s a major McGuffin, though since the movie turns into a dizzying multiple-reality head-trip punctuated by potent shock moments.
It’s certainly a strong showcase for Melissa George, taking her most challenging movie role to date and, despite her character’s disturbed state, looks great clad in hot pants and white vest throughout. She’s a troubled young woman whose mind seems to be on her autistic son (and more besides) when she joins a yachting day trip with her friends. A spectacular storm sequence overturns the boat and forces them to take refuge on a mysteriously appearing, abandoned cruise liner named the SS Aeolus. It’s on this ship that George gets caught up in an escalating psychological nightmare as a series of murders repeat themselves, each with an additional alternative version of herself.
The ambitious circular narrative of TRIANGLE is hard to second guess as Smith returns to scenes we have already experienced from different angles with a different understanding of what we are seeing. George, wielding an axe and playing multiple roles with different levels of menace, madness and sympathy, offers a tour de force – particularly unsettling are the suburban framing scenes where she portrays a violent, abusive mom.
Smith proves his worth with startling bursts of violence, a pervasive tension, and a persistent sense of foreboding even in the most picturesque ocean-bound sequences. The central storm set piece is well executed, and the sinister cruise liner used to creepy effect. There are startling left-field shocks and at least one great visual coup : George’s discovery of multiple gull-desecrated cadavers of the same woman in a gruesome pile provides a strikingly surreal / disquieting image.
TRIANGLE’s main problem, apart from not knowing when to quit in the final furlong and laying on the symbolism with a trowel, is its uncanny resemblance to last year’s Spanish gem TIME CRIMES. THE MACHINIST and DONNIE DARKO, among others, are clear influences, but it’s TIME CRIMES’ multiple realities and memorable, mysterious bandaged figure of fear that are regularly evoked in Smith’s otherwise distinctive movie.
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
