Movie Review ~ Get Away

There’s a tricky balancing act when executing a winning horror-comedy.  Nailing the dread of lurking terror while landing a well-timed laugh can be, well, murder and films like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil or The Cabin in the Woods are prime examples of successes that have offered scares and chuckles in equal measure. Eager to join them is Get Away, with its picturesque setting, a sinister mystery, and Nick Frost leading the charge.  It looks like a winning combination, with Frost (one of the stars of Shaun of the Dead) writing the script and positioning itself as a Wicker Man-esque romp with a twist. Sadly, the result is more of a frustrating tumble than genre triumph, undone by clunky execution and a curveball that feels less like a revelation and more like a neon sign screaming its arrival.

Admittedly, the premise is intriguing. The Smith family—Richard (Frost, The World’s End), his perpetually cheery wife Susan (Aisling Bea), their angsty teenage son Sam (Sebastian Croft), and snarky daughter Jessie (Maisie Ayres)—leave their city life behind for the remote Swedish island of Svalta. Surrounded by the island’s rugged beauty, they arrive just in time for the local festival commemorating the darker corners of Svalta’s brutal cannibalistic history. Villagers, led by the unsettlingly enthusiastic Klara (Anitta Suikkari), seem a little too eager to keep traditions alive. As the Smiths try to embrace the dream vacation they’ve long planned, their idyllic retreat unravels when murder and menace supplant their relaxation.

No stranger to the genre’s demands, Frost seems to be running on muscle memory.  He’s oddly flat instead of bringing the electric charm from his previous films. Tasked with playing the lumbering everyman surrounded by eccentrics, Frost’s performance feels disengaged throughout. His writing fares no better. The jokes rarely land, and the character dynamics, particularly within the Smith family, lack the spark needed to make us care about their fates.

The supporting cast doesn’t fare much better. Normally a standout, Bea (And Mrs) is saddled with ho-hum dialogue that washes out her character (perhaps that’s the point?). Croft and Ayres are serviceable but ultimately sidelined with little to do, reacting to the chaos without contributing much to it. The film’s saving grace is Suikkari, who steals every scene she’s in.  Her manic energy and unsettling fervor around the island’s traditions inject life into the film’s best scenes, making her combustible character the most compelling on-screen. Suikkari’s wild-eyed charisma is so magnetic that you’d wish the movie revolved around her instead of the bland Smith family.

Director Steffen Haars, better known for raunchy Dutch comedies, reteams with Frost after their 2024 Sundance flick Krazy House.  That film had similar problems balancing tone. Horror-comedy requires a deft hand to level the creeping tension of horror with the welcome release of humor. Haars, however, leans too heavily on absurdity, leaving the horror sequences lacking bite and the comedic moments awkwardly out of sync. Instead of a cohesive genre blend, the film feels like two mismatched halves uncomfortably stitched together. The Finnish landscapes scream for a director who could milk every shadow and eerie gust of wind for suspense, but Haars seems more interested in the pratfalls and punchlines that rarely connect.

And then there’s the twist—if one can charitably call it that—a moment meant to flip Get Away on its head but instead trips over its own buildup. It’s so heavily telegraphed that savvy viewers will likely piece it together long before the characters do. Rather than embracing the inevitability and leaning into the ridiculous fun of it, the movie drags its feet, trying to convince the audience that something else is afoot.  That undermines the goodwill the early setup earned, turning the film into a profoundly unsatisfying watch.

Despite flashes of potential, Get Away struggles to justify its already meager runtime. The stunning visuals (Finland stands in for Sweden) and Suikkari’s live-wire performance are not enough to salvage a film weighed down by underwhelming characters, uninspired direction that’s more bozo than gonzo, and a script that never quite figures out what it wants to be. For genre enthusiasts or Frost completists, there may be some fleeting enjoyment in the occasional clever moment or ominous early shot of the island. For everyone else, this is a vacation best left unbooked.