'Get Away' Review: Nick Frost's Family Vacation Nightmare Is More Than Meets the Eye | Fantastic Fest 2024

In the vein of Midsommar and Sightseers, Steffen Haars’ Get Away is a vacation nightmare that delivers on its “getaway” wordplay. Nick Frost writes and stars in this Nordic take on tourism as a cornily comedic and viciously violent invasion. Setups mean to evoke cringe humor as a picture-imperfect family hopes an island escape can reset their moods, cheeseballing through sitcom-like dialogue, but those are necessary facades. Frost’s screenplay is an experiment in patience that uses humor as a mask before unleashing its darkest feature, a delightfully deadly payoff made more impactful due to its tonally opposite buildup.

What Is 'Get Away' About?

Haars introduces us to the Smiths: “Daddy” Richard (Frost), “Mommy” Susan (Aisling Bea), huffy sister Jessie (Maisie Ayres), and snippy brother Sam (Sebastian Croft). They’re headed to the Swedish isle of Svälta during Karantan celebrations, including an hours-long stage play. Upon arrival, they’re greeted with hostility by everyone but their Norman Batesy rental homeowner (creepily played by Eero Milonoff). The Smiths are intruders during Svälta’s remembrance of a cruel British-imposed quarantine that killed many locals and pushed the rest into cannibalism. As Islanders practice their scenes, workshop props, and execute ceremonial traditions, the Smiths focus on having fun and bonding as a family!

Frost presents the Smiths like an “All-American” unit, except the English equivalent. Richard is your anxious, sweater-wearing father who “empowers” his wife by letting her handle arguments. Susan recites Wikipedia facts like a rented tour guide and wants to be adorable with her husband. If Get Away feels like a special Modern Family episode abroad, that’s intentional. Frost’s screenplay isn’t leaning on tropes as a crutch. There’s a reason why he and Haars want you to respond the way you are to Richard’s dorky dadness or Jessie’s prototypical rebellious era. Trust that clever writing is doing its job as you roll your eyes as the Smiths stick out like sore thumbs in Svälta.

Get Away presents like Ben Wheatley’s Turistas or Girls With Balls (complimentary) for a spell. There’s immediate backlash from townsfolk to accept the Smiths as guests during their sacred rituals, which leads to suitable outsider tension. Animal and insect costumes used during Karantan become mascots for their resistance, as the Smiths endure typical scare tactics like torch mobs and gifted animal carcasses. Anitta Suikkari’s Svältan elder looks upon the Smiths with disgrace, positioning herself as an antagonist who seems deadset on persevering outdated practices of ancestors long dead. Her haggish nature gives a horror vibe we’ve seen in folkloric examples of unassuming visitors choosing the wrong destination, as Suikkari revels in making the Smiths feel supremely unwelcome. She’s a splendid opposing force to Richard’s sad-sack optimism, killing sunshiny dispositions before a single throat is slit.

'Get Away' Is Wicked, Goofy, and Builds to a Violent Payoff

Image Via Fantastic Fest

Haars’ command over the goofiness of the first two acts sets the ensuing payoff up for success. Frost’s script dwells upon Finnish childhood memories that inspired Get Away, leveling commentary on both sides of the tourism argument. Judgments are often valid as locals must endure flocks of vacationing parasites who overrun someone else’s homelands, while unfair biases are sometimes thrust upon outsiders for nothing more than existing. Haars and Frost collaborate on humorous ways to confront these themes, but then the third act swerves, and we’re in a whole new ballpark. Svälta becomes a bloodbath with shocking results, worth a tip of the hat to filmmakers who understand the importance of dependable pacing.

Once Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills” drops, Get Away is off to the races. There’s no shortage of decapitations, impalements, and spurting red juices as the film becomes a fight for survival. Special effects artists are having a blast with hacked-apart prosthetics as the island becomes a battleground. It’s hardly an action-horror flick on par with TheNight Comes for Us, depending more on gallows humor than fluid choreography, but what’s visible is a stab-happy riot. Perhaps there’s a tighter version where we get to the third act’s eruption of gore a bit quicker, but as is, Haars and Frost succeed in pulling off a righteous genre swing.

Get Away is a deceptive blast that properly exploits vacationer stereotypes to conceal vastly more wicked intentions. The humble settlement of Svälta is realized with authenticity from its elaborate mythology to its humble waffle huts, while the Smiths play their parts as polite yet intrusive foreigners. Haars is most effective as a comedy director, so there’s never a full realization of the story’s horrific turns — but that’s alright because Frost’s script is rather hilarious (with hints of Edgar Wright). From top to bottom, the Smith foursome shines in performative moments when stacked against more rigid local caricatures. Reaching the climax might take a while, but Get Away is a welcome destination for horror fans.

Get Away had its premiere at 2024's Fantastic Fest. It will be released in theaters on December 6.