What if you could go back and do just one thing differently...would it be enough to change the outcome? To shift the path of your destiny?
That's the sort of question this bizarre Swedish fantasy-horror-mystery film confronts.
3 years after losing their child to a freak food poisoning accident...a young couple goes on a roadtrip to honour her memory.
Though fraught with arguments from the get-go, there hasn't been any real hitch in their plans...until he decides to pull off to camp along a secluded private road.
This throws them into some sort of twisted cyclical time loop...in which they both die a vicious death at the end.
However, at the end of each scenario they find themselves in...they always reawake to find themselves in the tent, moments before the interaction with their killers is about to take place.
And each time this happens, they are endowed with a little more knowledge...about what not to do...in the situation.
Though nothing seems to ever go their way.
Considering the structure of the plot, the film has a very odd chronology.
So it takes some attention to follow.
But it's not overly complex.
One might describe it as Groundhog Day in Hell.
A Hell somewhere between Deliverance and Wolf Creek.
They really do do a good job of inducing anxiety and frustration...as you want to see the beleaguered couple free themselves from this vicious loop of violent death.
But you can't help but wish that a little more happened...especially considering a good portion of the film is animated filler that really has no other purpose than to inflate the runtime a little.
That aside...it's a nice twist on the whole Deliverance thing.
The backwoods family was genuinely creepy.
And there were a few moments to make you jump.
It's certainly not as extreme as something like Wolf Creek- the level of ultraviolence is mild in comparison.
But it wins some points with the whole sci fi angle.
In the end...it's one of those see it...or don't...kind of films.
It's worth the time if you think it sounds interesting...but you aren't missing a masterpiece if you decide to skip it.
5 out of 10.
