Triangle – (Screamfest Review)
I have always been intrigued by the mysteries of the world like Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, and the grandaddy of them all, The Bermuda Triangle. It also goes by the name The Devil’s Triangle, and is a area that covers the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas, and the entire Caribbean islands and the Atlantic east to Azores. Over the years a number of aircraft and ships have mysteriously vanished without a trace. Aside from the Bryan Singer/Dean Devlin Sci-Fi Channel Miniseries The Triangle and the Italian clunker The Bermuda Triangle, Hollywood hasn’t taken advantage of the esoteric body of water. Shocking really, because there are a plethora of forboding angles you could take in explaining the sea of evil.
Jess (Melissa George) and a group of friends set sail to the high seas on a yacht only to run into a rogue storm that capsizes their boat, leaving them stranded in the ocean. A colossal ocean liner crosses their paths which seems like a safe haven, but little do they realize that a hooded figure is there to greet them with a shotgun in hand.
One by one her friends are getting picked off by this malevolent individual who turns out to look exactly like Jess. How can this be? Is this some evil doppelganger, or has Jess lost her mind and decided to kill her friends because she is in a unbalanced state of mind? Everything comes to a head as a serious case of déjà vu engulfs here as while still on the ship, she sees herself and her friends arriviving to board the 1930’s liner.
Creep and Severance are two of the best horror films to come out in the last decade. Both are Directed by Christopher Smith, and with his current flick Triangle, proves he is force to be reckoned within the genre. Working with his biggest budget, he turns the ocean into a threatening entity with its murky darkness and bleak atmosphere. The interior of the ship has a distinct ambience that would best be described as the Overlook Hotel on a cruise ship.The creepiest shot in the film is where a character realizes that the events that are taking place cannot be undone, and while dying, falls to the ground into a pile of her own corpses.
Melissa George (The Amityville Horror) shines in her role as a single mom of a autistic son who just wants to get home to him. She also scored horndog points for wearing some skimpy jean shorts throughout the film. Boing!
The CG was well done for the most part, and didn’t look any worse than what was seen in the megabudget George Clooney vehicle The Perfect Storm.
This is not a truly original piece though. Astute fans will notice the time travel aspects and the masked killer were heavily lifted from Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes. The story also becomes quite redundant as you see the events taking place from different points of view, then Triangle slowly starts going in circles.
If you are a sucker (like me)Â for oceanbound fright flicks like Death Ship, Virus, and Ghost Ship, then Triangle is a cruise worth taking.
Rating: 
[...] next year in the witch sweepstakes. Christopher Smith, who last directed Triangle (read my Review here), is back with his most ambitious film to date. Black Death is hitting UK cinemas on February [...]