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Fantasia 2019: ‘Harpoon’ is a Sharp, Powerful Thriller [REVIEW]

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Harpoon

Rivalries, dark secrets, and sexual tension crash together in Rob Grant’s Harpoon, a taut and delightfully dark comedic thriller. The film follows three friends who venture out on a yacht for a day trip, only to find themselves stranded in the ocean and at each other’s throats.

Harpoon explores friendship and the strains we put on our relationships. It makes us question the nature and history of our personal connections and why we choose to maintain them.

The film’s three leads – Richard (Christopher Gray), his girlfriend Sasha (Emily Tyra), and best friend Jonah (Munro Chambers) – are stuck in an everlasting cycle of enabling bad behavior. An opening statement in the narration — provided brilliantly by Brett Gelman — describes Aristotle’s philosophy of the three kinds of friendship; friendships of utility, friendships of pleasure, and friendships of the good. Through the film, it becomes clear that Richard, Sasha, and Jonah don’t exactly fit into any of these three categories.

They exist in a vacuum of their own nastiness, constantly pushing and pulling at each other in a way that shows their sickened dependence. While this collaborative friendship is truly toxic for everyone involved, it creates one hell of a compelling film. 

via Fantasia Fest

For a film with only one set and three characters, Harpoon works surprisingly well thanks to its tight direction by Grant and excellent chemistry between the cast. Most notably, Chambers delivers a razor-sharp performance as Jonah, carving through each emotional scene with impressive precision. 

Tyra is excellent as Sasha, the exasperated referee between her boyfriend and his best friend. While she holds an air of righteousness, she’s far from saintly herself. Gray is perfect as Richard, bringing life and humanity to a detestable character. The three work together in brilliant harmony to create a group of deeply flawed individuals with a friendship that walks the line between love and loathing. 

As the film progresses, the boat begins to match the unraveling minds of our poor castaways; the lower deck goes from cozy to crazed thanks to a shifting set design. The lighting moves between painfully bright and depressingly low, but it’s done in a way that expresses the extremes that the characters experience without compromising the shot; scenes are washed with yellows and blues to impose a tone.

The script is wickedly clever with a delightful streak of dark humor. Gelman’s pitch-perfect narration provides some additional details about the characters and their situation, while lightly bumping up the tone of the film to keep it from getting too horrifically bleak. But don’t let the smooth, dulcet tones of Gelman’s voice distract you – Harpoon is sinfully dark and deeply satisfying. 

Writers Rob Grant and Mike Kovac have found the perfect balance of comedy and intensity to really make the film click. There’s a building pressure that keeps the pace moving, driving the story forward despite the stagnant scenery. It’s like the ultimate bottle episode, taking full advantage of the creative liberties that can be found within that isolated focus. 

via Fantasia Fest

The film pushes just enough to satisfy the audience’s desire for depravity while showing enough restraint to not go completely off the rails. It keeps one sea-shaky leg in the realm of realism while the other dances a mad dervish of disastrous worst-case scenarios. 

Effectively, Harpoon raises some questions about the minefield of relationships. Is personal history enough to keep friends together? How dangerously close have we come to permanently damaging our friendships? When a bond has been broken, can it ever be repaired? 

Once you’ve seen the worst in someone, can you ever go back?

The answers aren’t as simple as you’d think.

Harpoon is a bubbling ocean of deep resentment, dark comedy, and maritime superstitions gone awry. From the script to the direction, the performances, and the plot, it’s sharp, powerful, and deadly. If you have the opportunity, I’d recommend you take the shot. 

 

Harpoon is playing as part of Fantasia Festival’s 2019 lineup. For an interview with writer/director Rob Grant, click here. Or click here to read our interview with one of the stars of the film, Munro Chambers.

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‘Blink Twice’ Trailer Presents a Thrilling Mystery in Paradise

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A new trailer for the movie formerly known as Pussy Island just dropped and it has us intrigued. Now with the more restrained title, Blink Twice, this  Zoë Kravitz-directed black comedy is set to land in theaters on August 23.

The film is packed with stars including Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Alia Shawkat, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, and Geena Davis.

The trailer feels like a Benoit Blanc mystery; people are invited to a secluded location and disappear one by one, leaving one guest to figure out what is going on.

In the film, a billionaire named Slater King (Channing Tatum) invites a waitress named Frida (Naomi Ackie) to his private island, “It’s paradise. Wild nights blend into sun-soaked days and everyone’s having a great time. No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. There is something wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.”

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Melissa Barrera Says ‘Scary Movie VI’ Would Be “Fun To Do”

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Melissa Barrera might literally get the last laugh on Spyglass thanks to a possible Scary Movie sequel. Paramount and Miramax are seeing the right opportunity to bring the satirical franchise back into the fold and announced last week one might be in production as early as this fall.

The last chapter of the Scary Movie franchise was almost a decade ago and since the series lampoons thematic horror movies and pop culture trends, it would seem they have a lot of content to draw ideas from, including the recent reboot of slasher series Scream.

Barerra, who starred as final girl Samantha in those movies was abruptly fired from the latest chapter, Scream VII, for expressing what Spyglass interpreted as “antisemitism,” after the actress came out in support of Palestine on social media.

Even though the drama wasn’t a laughing matter, Barrera might get her chance to parody Sam in Scary Movie VI. That is if the opportunity arises. In an interview with Inverse, the 33-year-old actress was asked about Scary Movie VI, and her reply was intriguing.

“I always loved those movies,” the actress told Inverse. “When I saw it announced, I was like, ‘Oh, that would be fun. That would be so fun to do.’”

That “fun to do” part could be construed as a passive pitch to Paramount, but that’s open to interpretation.

Just like in her franchise, Scary Movie also has a legacy cast including Anna Faris and Regina Hall. There is no word yet on if either of those actors will appear in the reboot. With or without them, Barrera is still a fan of the comedies. “They have the iconic cast that did it, so we’ll see what goes on with that. I’m just excited to see a new one,” she told the publication.

Barrera is currently celebrating the box office success of her latest horror movie Abigail.

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Thrills and Chills: Ranking ‘Radio Silence’ Films from Bloody Brilliant to Just Bloody

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Radio Silence Films

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and Chad Villella are all filmmakers under the collective label called Radio Silence. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are the primary directors under that moniker while Villella produces.

They have gained popularity over the past 13 years and their films have become known as having a certain Radio Silence “signature.” They are bloody, usually contain monsters, and have breakneck action sequences. Their recent film Abigail exemplifies that signature and is perhaps their best film yet. They are currently working on a reboot of John Carpenter’s Escape From New York.

We thought we would go through the list of projects they have directed and rank them from high to low. None of the movies and shorts on this list are bad, they all have their merits. These rankings from top to bottom are just ones we felt showcased their talents the best.

We didn’t include movies they produced but didn’t direct.

#1. Abigail

An update to the second film on this list, Abagail is the natural progression of Radio Silence’s love of lockdown horror. It follows in pretty much the same footsteps of Ready or Not, but manages to go one better — make it about vampires.

Abigail

#2. Ready or Not

This film put Radio Silence on the map. While not as successful at the box office as some of their other films, Ready or Not proved that the team could step outside their limited anthology space and create a fun, thrilling, and bloody adventure-length film.

Ready or Not

#3. Scream (2022)

While Scream will always be a polarizing franchise, this prequel, sequel, reboot — however you want to label it showed just how much Radio Silence knew the source material. It wasn’t lazy or cash-grabby, just a good time with legendary characters we love and new ones who grew on us.

Scream (2022)

#4 Southbound (The Way Out)

Radio Silence tosses their found footage modus operandi for this anthology film. Responsible for the bookend stories, they create a terrifying world in their segment titled The Way Out, which involves strange floating beings and some sort of time loop. It’s kind of the first time we see their work without a shaky cam. If we were to rank this entire film, it would remain at this position on the list.

Southbound

#5. V/H/S (10/31/98)

The film that started it all for Radio Silence. Or should we say the segment that started it all. Even though this isn’t feature-length what they managed to do with the time they had was very good. Their chapter was titled 10/31/98, a found-footage short involving a group of friends who crash what they think is a staged exorcism only to learn not to assume things on Halloween night.

V/H/S

#6. Scream VI

Cranking up the action, moving to the big city and letting Ghostface use a shotgun, Scream VI turned the franchise on its head. Like their first one, this film played with canon and managed to win over a lot of fans in its direction, but alienated others for coloring too far outside the lines of Wes Craven’s beloved series. If any sequel was showing how the trope was going stale it was Scream VI, but it managed to squeeze some fresh blood out of this nearly three-decade mainstay.

Scream VI

#7. Devil’s Due

Fairly underrated, this, Radio Silence’s first feature-length film, is a sampler of things they took from V/H/S. It was filmed in an omnipresent found footage style, showcasing a form of possession, and features clueless men. Since this was their first bonafide major studio job it’s a wonderful touchstone to see how far they have come with their storytelling.

Devil’s Due

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