I thought it was possible I was about to watch a hidden gem of a slasher! The first ten minutes weren't perfect but they were serviceable. Typical slasher setup. I had no idea what to expect, which is a great feeling. The characters were a little weird, true. Some were ok but more than a few were extremely broad. Including a fake Corky person, a group of bitter old ugly ladies, and a wicked annoying Drunken "Frenchman." Not to mention a curious young blonde and an old black guy both riding the English-speaking country/countries accent carousel, the latter of which the old ladies act like he's God's gift but he's just average. And they're acting like cougars on steroids. I think they'd be called sexist and these days maybe even racist. (Do German woman really use African men for a few years before they replace them with younger African men? Geez.)
And then there's a really stupid rape scene. I can't imagine anyone thought it was believable to have a man rape someone at his place of work, on a boat filled with tourists, who will all know exactly what happened. Immediately. It's clearly there for thematic purposes because it's shoehorned in and makes no sense. Surely the Captain needs his second in command at this early stage of the voyage. So dumb. And then to make it worse they have one of those "broken girl cry/sings a happy song." It's actually a great Bjork song but it was just cringey here.
Really, I'm not sure if this movie is a critique of men or women or both. I thought it might be about predators in general but I didn't stick around to find out once the cat was let out of the bag. By cat I mean Crazy Murderous Hick Family Trope. My interest disappeared completely. I'm not into this kind of flick. Pure survival from maniac. It needs mystery to hold my attention. Which is a shame because I liked the Japanese characters and the setting and the captain. This one reeks of too many cooks in the kitchen.
And then there's a really stupid rape scene. I can't imagine anyone thought it was believable to have a man rape someone at his place of work, on a boat filled with tourists, who will all know exactly what happened. Immediately. It's clearly there for thematic purposes because it's shoehorned in and makes no sense. Surely the Captain needs his second in command at this early stage of the voyage. So dumb. And then to make it worse they have one of those "broken girl cry/sings a happy song." It's actually a great Bjork song but it was just cringey here.
Really, I'm not sure if this movie is a critique of men or women or both. I thought it might be about predators in general but I didn't stick around to find out once the cat was let out of the bag. By cat I mean Crazy Murderous Hick Family Trope. My interest disappeared completely. I'm not into this kind of flick. Pure survival from maniac. It needs mystery to hold my attention. Which is a shame because I liked the Japanese characters and the setting and the captain. This one reeks of too many cooks in the kitchen.