Svälta is not a place you want to be stuck in for very long. This is according to Steffen Haars’s Get Away, which stars Nick Frost as the father of The Smith Family, who really, really, really needs a vacation. They just didn’t expect their trek to the Swedish island of Svälta to be just as dark as its weird and twisted history.
Get Away proves that the culture clash is a very real and deadly thing. Of course, the comedy toys with all sorts of dark themes, poking fun at The Wicker Man and Midsommar-like situations as the family gets in over their heads thanks to their connection to this remote island’s dark history.
Co-starring Aisling Bea, Sebastian Croft, and Maisie Ayres as the rest of the Smith Family, Get Away’s family vacation goes sideways really quickly as the family stumbles their way into all sorts of wacky situations with the local townsfolk who are preparing for a mysterious local festival. The festival at the center of the visit hinges on all sorts of strange rituals that celebrate something known as Karantan . . . and it is most definitely not a play, which the Smith Family thinks they are there to see.
Um, no. That’s going to be clear several jump scares later.
So the jokes here might be a bit on the slim side, but Frost as Richard Smith is damn irresistible as he leads his family straight into one hell of a vacation disaster. This is definitely a fish out of water scenario as the family muddles their way from one calamity to the next, much to the chagrin of the locals who may or may not be in the middle of a serial killer’s stomping ground.
Enjoying Get Away is going to depend on your own tolerance for the mundane. The horror is mostly cruel and largely flat, but the dark humor - as the family bickers their way through this unfortunate vacation - slides in under the sudden carnage to give an unexpected lift to much of the awkwardness of the situation they find themselves stepping into.
But Frost’s script does take more than one intelligent swipe at folk horror along the way to its unsettling completion. It works, too, creating a horror film which manages to genre-hop into a type of psychological horror which has as much fun with its audience as its cast is having.
Get Away offers some darkly unique humor this winter. It is now in theatres thanks to Shudder and IFC Films.
MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 86 mins
Director: Steffen Haar
Writer: Nick Frost
Cast: Nick Frost; Aisling Bea; Sebastian Croft
Genre: Comedy | Horror
Tagline: Get ready for a killer holiday
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Shudder and IFC Films.
Official Site:
Release Date: December 6, 2024
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A family's vacation to a remote getaway takes an unexpected turn when they discover the island they're on is inhabited by a serial killer.
