I love renting straight to DVD releases. Sure some suck but surprisingly, most I've seen have been quite good. Dead Snow (Norwegian zombie movie), The Dead Hate The Living (made for 12 dollars, looks it, but has great gore and a terrific plot) and Grave Dancers (messed up ghost film) rate above many theater releases I've seen lately, especially drek like Jennifer's Body.
Now comes Triangle, a great horror mind warp that demands multiple viewings to truly understand it. Jess (Mellisa George of Alias fame) is going on a cruise with some friends of hers off the coast of Florida (actually Australia but whatever). The Bermuda Triangle awaits. A freak storm capsizes the boat and their only hope for survival is to catch a ride on an eerily empty cruise liner. Once aboard, time plays havoc with Jess as her crew mates are killed one by one, over and over again. She and the others question her sanity as a Groundhog Day scenario plays out and she keeps reliving the same thing over and over, but not always played out the same way as she struggles to escape.
The plot is very convoluted but it works because everything that happens is explained as to WHY it happened. A new piece of the puzzle keeps us glued as we, along with Jess, struggle to figure out what is going on. When you do discover the answer, its horrifying.
The directing is top notch from a mostly unheard of director (at least to me) but I will definitely keep an eye out for his next picture about the Black Death in England. Christopher Smith layers the suspense on as well as any A list director with several haunting sequences, including one of a mound of rotting corpses that will be burned in my memory forever. Brilliant.
The cast are mostly no names other than George but that takes nothing away from the cryptic storyline that unfolds like a sweet onion (no tears for this movie). It is haunting, thoughtful and has multiple references to the Shining such as Jess's house number being 237 and the use of an axe in a climatic, reoccurring scene. Clever without being overbearing. If you like horror, this is a must see.
4 and 1/2 out of 5
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