Twisted R-Rated Thriller On Prime Video Makes Beloved A-List Star Into A Monster
Most first-time directors don’t start out with a successful film that earns back twice its budget and then becomes a streaming hit, but then again, most first-time directors aren’t Zoe Kravitz. The actress wrote and directed the thriller Blink Twice, which debuted last year in theaters and stunned audiences by turning Channing Tatum into a villain. The hunk’s typical dopey “Aw shucks” personality was replaced by his sinister turn as a tech mogul up to no good.
Billionaire Private Islands Never End Well
Blink Twice centers on Frida (played by Naomi Ackie, star of the upcoming Mickey 17), a waitress enticed to go spend a weekend on the private island of billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), who is, of course, incredibly handsome and charming, but there’s a sleaze under the carefully crafted facade, unlike any other role in Tatum’s career. Joining the pair are Slater’s friends, which includes Tom (Haley Joel Osment), Cody (Simon Rex), and Stan (Christian Slater), and a few other women, including Frida’s friend, Jess (Alia Shawkat from Final Girls), and Sarah, a reality star (Good Omens’ Adria Arjona). What starts with scenes of partying, drinking, and lounging by the pool soon takes a dark turn.
One morning, Frida realizes that Jess is gone, and no one else on the island seems to remember she was ever there. Though it plays with familiar horror tropes, the film’s exotic setting lulls even the viewers into a state of euphoria before all hell breaks loose. Blink Twice is slow to reveal what’s happening to the guests of the island, but once it kicks into the third act, it goes full-bore toward the finale.
A Future Cult Classic
In interviews, Zoe Kravitz explained that she started working on the first draft of the film back in 2017 and that it’s been a passion of hers for years. Blink Twice is her vision brought to life, and while there are a few stumbles, and as far as the film goes with its plot, it still feels like it’s holding back. None of the characters ever feel like they are fully fleshed out, and each can be summed up in a few words, but whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is entirely subjective and based on how you like your horror.
What Kravitz pulled off is what most horror directors try to do, which is take the anxiety of their times and present it through the lens of a horror tale that turns the fear and anxiety into something tangible. Blink Twice succeeds by embracing different levels of very real fears in society today and tilting them a little to produce a future cult classic. As of now, the film, which earned back double its production budget of $20 million in theaters, has accomplished the rare feat of getting critics and the public to agree on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 75 percent and 71 percent fresh, respectively.
Blink Twice won’t earn any fans for being original, and it might be too rooted in current societal trends to remain relevant, though sadly, it likely will for a very long time, but there are plenty of horror films released each year that are significantly worse. Zoe Kravitz proved that she has talent behind the camera, and hopefully, she’ll start work on another film soon. As for Channing Tatum, he’s gone from being typecast to proving he can act in a multitude of different roles, so he might just surprise everyone again.
Blink Twice is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
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