#24 - Triangle (2009)

[NSpan]

Triangle (2009)

Writer / Director:
Christopher Smith

Cast:
Melissa George
Liam Hemsworth
Rachael Carpani
Emma Lung
Michael Dorman
Henry Nixon
Joshua McIvor


Recommended Movie-Club Sandwich:
Severance (2006)
or, if you've seen that:
Creep (2004)

[numbersix]

Not sure if I've even heard of this. Is it worth checking out?

[Buscemi]

Looks straight-to-video to me.

[NSpan]

I honestly believe that this director is an up-and-comer. This British movie didn't get a proper American release--but we all know that isn't necessarily a sign of poor quality. It stands at 81% at RottenTomatoes--a very good score for a horror movie. The director's previous work includes Creep, Severance, and (the upcoming) Black Death. Maybe I'm off-base here, but I think he has major potential. When Christopher Nolan's Following first came out, I urged people to go see it. It was a good movie (though not exactly "brilliant"), yet I felt that the director would be going places. It was a lot of fun to follow his career since then. Now, I'm not saying Christopher Smith will be responsible for the next Dark Knight--but I'd be very surprised if never breaks into A-list productions.

[NSpan]

DP.

[Buscemi]

You kind of remind me and how I thought Kerry Conran would be one of the next great directors, only to disappear into commercials after one film.

[NSpan]

Just realized that I've been neglecting my own pet-project for a while now. I'm gonna try to get back into updating Movie Club--starting now. Six and Frendo, hope you guys don't mind me lifting your responses from the main forum. Boosh, I decided to leave our Christopher Smith banter buried... but, for posterity, Buscemi is not a fan.

Creep - Man, I love this director. Severance is one of my all-time favorites. This is only the second film of his that I've seen, but now I can't wait to catch both Triangle and Black Death. Creep was definitely a different genre than Severance (the former being mostly straight horror with an appropriate mix of humor and the latter being closer to Grindhouse-style parody), but I thought it was easily one of the better 21st century horror films I've seen.

Triangle - I dug it. Without giving anything away, it reminded me of a combination of Moon and Dead Calm. The latter mostly for superficial reasons (some similar scenarios and plot points). The former in the sense that the story is essentially a Twilight Zone-esque throwaway. But, like Moon (and the better Twilight Zone episodes), the "twist" happens early on--and the story is more about how the protagonist deals with the bizarre situation. Much more satisfying than the modern M.Night Shamalamadingong-style twist that occurs in the final moments of most movies. Those feel like a cheat--and are usually only entertaining on first viewing. This movie, on the other hand, has the potential to actually get better with time.... That is, even if the story itself doesn't quite warrant extended analysis or speculation. It is what it is, ya know? Looking forward to Black Death.

PS. Some major hints of Primer in there too.

Triangle 6/10
Glad it was recommended to me. It's not a great film but it is refreshing to see a horror film that isn't just dumb torture-porn and "gotcha" jolts. It was fun figuring out what was going on, and there were some brilliant moments (such as the multiple bodies). Some parts didn't make sense as opposed to being clever, but it certainly didn't deserve to go straight to DVD

I just finished Triangle. I thought it was pretty damn good, man! I agree it could have been cut down a bit, but still liked it alot. To be honest, as far as twist films go, I thought it was done much better than Shutter Island, since the twist didn't feel cheap. I really want to check out Severance now. I wanted to before, but really want to now.

Severance - Rented this after seeing Triangle. Great. Loved it. Hilarious at times, and pretty savage at others, with a great ironic/social commentary theme. Gonna try to check out Creep next.

Just got Rififi (Movie Club pick #19) from Netflix. And Brute Force (its double-feature recommendation) is #1 in the queue. So I should have a response to those soon.

[frendo]

I need to jump back into this club on the next film...

[NSpan]

I need to jump back into this club on the next film...

Hell yeah.

I'm gonna write a full response to it, but Rififi was spectacular. And I got Come and See and Downfall at the top of my queue--so I'll be moving forward in a more timely fashion than as-of-late.

[Leestu]

This finally got a release in Australia 4 days ago, but very limited and not in my state.

[Buscemi]

Just import it. You could probably get a Region 1 DVD for $10 US.