Movie Review: “Black Rock”

If one were to mix “The Most Dangerous Game” with “Deliverance” and add in three mentally unstable, dishonorably discharged war veterans, then one might arrive somewhere in the vicinity of what “Black Rock” purports to be.

The film chronicles three girls who must survive a terrifying night on a secluded island while being hunted by crazed soldiers. It follows a trite formula that ignores the potential to be a more unique take on the all-too-familiar survival horror flick. In fact, as the story progresses, it is noticeable that every scene seems to be reminiscent of or alludes to some other film that has already trodden this path.

The film, directed by Katie Aselton, focuses on a trio of friends, Abby (Aselton), Lou (Lake Bell) and Sarah (Kate Bosworth), who put aside their long-standing differences to take a camping trip out to their childhood getaway off the coast of Maine, a secluded and immediately ominous island called Black Rock.

Sarah, the group’s mediator, convinces Lou and Abby to reconcile over a romantic betrayal in which Lou slept with Abby’s boyfriend six years before, leaving them on non-speaking terms. Sarah, who is intent on healing the wounds of the damaged friendship, is forced to keep everything civil as the three arrive at the campground.

The film finds its rising action when the girls encounter three GIs, recently returned from the Middle East, on the island hunting deer. Sarah recognizes Henry (Will Bouvier) as an old schoolmate and invites him and his two companions, Derek (Jay Paulson) and Alex (Anslem Richardson), to a dinner at their campsite.  During the night, a drunk and flirtatious Abby causes consequences that permanently alter the paths of everyone on the island.

What follows is an almost step-for-step reenactment of every kill-or-be-killed horror flick. The movie’s major disadvantage is its noticeably familiar plot. The film does not build enough tension for many of its pivotal scenes, such as the fight sequences between the girls and the soldiers, in which the lack of suspense and campy nature leaves them flat.

However, the film’s greatest redeeming quality is its psychological portrayal of the characters throughout the film. It becomes apparent that the girls point to their relationship as the reason for their problems. Abby blames Lou and the betrayal that happened years before as the reason she is not happy in her life, and Lou seems to see her own lack of balance as partly caused by the same reason.

These girls’ psychological states are entrenched in their struggle for survival, in which they are forced to realize their own mortality and the triviality of the squabbles that have driven them apart. The portrayal of the characters’ personalities becomes more and more vivid as the three girls must delve inside themselves to find the strength to face their demented hunters.

Although initially the actions of all the characters seem irrational and purely fabricated for the sake of vapid plot stimuli, as the story progresses the girls begin to show their own dynamic changes, revealing a new perspective on the characters as a whole.

The lack of cheap parlor tricks and surprise scares lends a much more chilling realism to the struggle to survive the hunt by their psychotic would-be killers. The film functions better as a drama with the added side of horror rather than vice versa. Its realism is augmented by its setting, the chilling yet majestic island on which the girls become trapped.

Although the film only narrowly shies away from drowning in its own lack of originality, it finds a way to pull out some sense of purpose through its psychological analysis and realistic portrayal of survival and friendship.