Matthew Losasso’s survival thriller opens with a woman (Sophie Skelton) shipwrecked alone on a Scottish shore. Her crewmates are missing and she is presumed to be the only survivor. Over the following days, as she is interrogated by hostile police, her memories return of her fraught journey to the middle of nowhere.
The filmmakers effectively build tension in the early stages of the film as the fated voyage begins. Mysterious occurrences, stray fragments of memory, begin to form a picture of a hostile presence on the boat quietly sabotaging their efforts and setting the characters against each other. Paranoia and desperation sets in as supplies mysteriously dwindle and setbacks abound.
Once the characters start turning on each other there is fun to be had in the camp hysterics of interpersonal drama set against the turbulent sea. The veracity of their dire situation gives credence to their desperation. The isolation of the barren sea is a powerful motivator. However once a character emerges in a bewildered stupor brandishing a knife and muttering key aspects of his back story, the film takes a turn into some choppy waters.
The cast are entertaining and their drama amusing but they are also broadly performed and somewhat thin. Daniel, in particular, is presented as the typical competitive asshole who’s ruthlessly willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, even as events turn bloody. Though deliciously hateable, his presence cheapens what could be a much more effective thriller with more grounded characters. The film has the temperament to be a more subtly affecting survival thriller than it ultimately is. The film really excels in moments of stillness, when memory is at once salvation and tormentor.
The film is longer than typical films of this genre but the weight of time is effectively used to wear away at the adrenaline of it’s climactic moments and explore the subtler feelings of dread and regret. This is especially effective near the end of the film when our remaining characters are left adrift in the falling action. Perhaps the film just needed to be a bit more serious or a lot more silly but it stands as a
Three Stars