Arriving on a secluded island, a group of friends trying to port for high-school graduation finds themselves at a mansion that belonged to a researcher looking into experimental quantum physics, which soon unravels a curious and terrifying night they will never forget.
This one was quite an intriguing if ultimately confusing effort. One of the film's biggest pluses is the engaging technical qualities here which signal their growing obsessions during the night. The fantastic sequence of the girl going alone through the house in a long take while the party continues uninterrupted in the distance with a story about the horrors of working in a slaughterhouse gives this a strong start, as well as the later scene of them watching a speech of her grandfather on the revolutionary psychics projects he's involved in. there's a wild and raucous energy to the party the girls go to since it gets us out of the house and does something interesting which can also be said for the hypnotic finale as you wait around for something to build off what's presented, going from a supernatural reality-bending effort to psychological mind-melt and bringing in astral corruption messing with the notion of time for a really intriguing ending that serves as the most enjoyable and chilling part of the film. That said, there are a few problems here. The main issue is the fact that the film takes forever to get to the horror aspects present here. The first half of the film is hardly interesting, focusing on the tech-obsessed teens going around the island trying to get cell-service for their devices complaining about the lack of modern amenities or them partying in the mansion. This takes it's time on the first issue, giving us way too much time on the journey to the house as they wait around the tourist spot trying to give advice on coping with the unavailable resources or making the best of the backward mentality usually found on small islands so that it's nearly twenty minutes of them complaining before reaching the house, and without much character development it feels like it's meandering around waiting to get them there. Once there, the party is just endless loops of them dancing, drinking or telling stories, giving us the character development but again feels far too drawn-out making this one get off to a bad start. That ties into the other issue here in that so much of what happens here feels tied to another genre altogether rather than horror so while it's entertaining none of it fits into the genre. The scenes of the girls at the party, laughing together, drinking, dancing and getting into fights with the other attendees is fun, especially with the juxtaposition against the boys bored out of their minds back home. However, this has nothing to do with building a better sense of atmosphere and dread with very little at stake here either with a drawn-out and pointless search where they split up and go through town looking for a lost shoe, and the scenes of them repeating actions or just going through apocalyptic conversations out of nowhere lose their impact when there's nothing given about their importance. They should seem like terrifying concepts and ideas yet with no exposition given about them just feel hollow, lowering this one the most.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Mild Violence.
