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''Triangle'' is a 2009
psychological horror Psychological horror is a genre, subgenre of horror fiction, horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and Mental state, psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequent ...
film written and directed by Christopher Smith and starring
Melissa George Melissa George (born 6 August 1976) is an Australian actress and entrepreneur. A former national artistic rollerskating champion and model, George began her acting career playing Angel Parrish in the Australian soap opera Home and Away (1993– ...
and
Michael Dorman Michael Dorman (born 26 April 1981) is a New Zealand actor, best known for his starring roles as NASA astronaut Gordo Stevens in the Apple TV+ original science fiction space drama series ''For All Mankind'' and as John Tavner in the comedy-dram ...
. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 16 October 2009. George portrays a single mother who goes on a boating trip with several friends. When they are forced to abandon their ship, they board a derelict ocean liner, where they become convinced that someone is stalking them.


Plot

Jess prepares to take Tommy, her
autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
son, on a boat trip with her friend Greg and hears the doorbell ring, but no one is there. Jess drives to a
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
harbor without Tommy, explaining that he is at his special needs school, and boards Greg's boat with his married friends Sally and Downey, Heather, and Victor. At sea, a storm approaches, and while Greg radios the
Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...
, he picks up a
distress signal A distress signal, also known as a distress call, is an internationally recognized means for obtaining help. Distress signals are communicated by transmitting radio signals, displaying a visually observable item or illumination, or making a soun ...
from a woman frantically pleading help. The woman says that someone is killing everyone but is cut off before she can provide her location. The storm capsizes the boat and Heather is swept away by the ocean. The others climb onto the overturned boat when the storm clears. The survivors board an
ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...
as it passes. It appears to be deserted despite the fact that they saw the silhouette of a person on the bridge deliberately ignoring their cries for help, and there is fresh food in the dining room. Jess experiences a sense of
déjà vu ''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford Univer ...
as they explore the ship. They find Jess's keys near a display case for
Aeolus In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos (; grc, Αἴολος , ) is a name shared by three mythical characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which A ...
, the ship's namesake. Jess spots someone watching them and Victor gives chase. She and Greg find "Go To Theater" written in blood on a mirror, but Greg insists it's just the crew playing a prank. Jess returns to the dining room, where the food is now rotting. Victor, covered in blood, tries to kill Jess but she fights him off. She hears gunfire and follows it to a theater, where Greg lies dead of a gunshot. Sally and Downey say that Greg told them Jess shot him. A masked shooter kills them and chases Jess; she disarms the shooter, who tells her "You have to kill them; it's the only way to get home" before falling overboard. She hears yelling and sees a second set of Jess and the others arrive on Greg's capsized boat and spot her as the earlier unseen figure: she drops her keys near the display case, is spotted, and attempts to warn Victor 2 when he chases her, only to accidentally impale his head on a wall hook. She finds dozens of the shooter's outfits, several shotguns, her own locket, and a note saying to kill them all when they board, written in her own handwriting. She takes a shotgun, intending to "change the pattern," but the shooter, a third Jess repeating the loop, kills Greg and Downey 2 before mortally wounding Sally 2. The first Jess chases Sally 2, who sends the distress signal heard on Greg's boat. Jess catches up to her on a deck filled with dozens of Sally corpses, and Sally succumbs to her wound as, below them, the second Jess kills the shooter Jess. The overturned boat returns again with another copy of Jess and the others, and Jess realizes the loop restarts once everyone is killed. Desperate to stop the loop, Jess sets everything from the first loop into motion, and cloaks her face using a tissue bag as a makeshift mask. After she is disarmed during the fight on the front deck, she urges her counterpart to kill everyone, and the second Jess knocks the original overboard. She awakens washed ashore and discovers that it is the same morning. She returns home and watches from outside her house as her original morning self yells abusively at Tommy out of anger toward his autism. Promising to change, she distracts her counterpart with the doorbell, then kills her, puts the bagged body in the car trunk, and leaves with Tommy. A seagull hits their windshield and dies, but when she picks it up and disposes of it, she sees a pile of dead seagulls. Realizing that she is still trapped in the loop, Jess hurriedly drives away, but crashes into a truck. Tommy is killed on impact, and the double of Jess from the trunk is seen dead at the scene. In the aftermath, the real Jess stands watching the accident scene. A taxi driver approaches and she accepts a ride to the harbour. After promising to return, she joins the others on Greg's boat, starting the loop again.


Cast


Production

''Triangle'' was a British-Australian co-production written and directed by Christopher Smith. The
UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...
awarded £1.6 million ($2.8 million) of public money from the National Lottery fund towards the development, production and distribution of the movie. The film was shot on sets and on location in
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
, Australia. Smith insisted on having a set constructed that depicted the exterior of a cruise liner, in order to minimize shooting in front of
green screens Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to r ...
. The movie was based in part on the story of
Sisyphus In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος ''Sísyphos'') was the founder and king of Ancient Corinth, Ephyra (now known as Corinth). Hades punished him for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense bo ...
, the Greek mythological figure cursed to repeatedly push a boulder up a hill without ever successfully reaching the top. Smith also was inspired by ''
Dead of Night ''Dead of Night'' is a 1945 black and white British anthology horror film, made by Ealing Studios. The individual segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie W ...
'' and '' Memento''. He wanted to make a circular movie that explored ''déjà vu'', while avoiding reusing elements of ''
Jacob's Ladder Jacob's Ladder ( he, סֻלָּם יַעֲקֹב ) is a ladder leading to heaven that was featured in a dream the biblical Patriarch Jacob had during his flight from his brother Esau in the Book of Genesis (chapter 28). The significance of th ...
''.


Release

''Triangle'' premiered at the
London FrightFest Film Festival FrightFest, also known as Arrow Video FrightFest is an annual film festival held in London and Glasgow. The festival holds three major events each year: a festival running five days over the UK late August Bank Holiday weekend, a Halloween event ...
on 27 August 2009. It was released theatrically in the UK on 16 October 2009, in Belgium on 30 December 2009, and in the Netherlands on 21 January 2010. The movie grossed $894,985 in the UK, and $1,303,598 total worldwide. It did not receive a theatrical release in the US.


Home media

Icon Home Entertainment An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
released ''Triangle'' on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
in the UK on 1 March 2010, with features including a commentary track by director Smith.
First Look Studios First Look Studios was a former American independent film distributor, that specialized in home video releases of films and television series. History In 1980, Robert and Ellen Little founded Overseas Filmgroup as a film sales company for forei ...
distributed the film on DVD and Blu-ray in the US, releasing it on 2 February 2010. The American discs do not include the commentary track, nor some of the other extras on the British releases.


Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, a
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
, reports an approval rating of 80% based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 6.53/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "''Triangle'' sails into some strange waters, but this intelligent, well-acted horror outing anchors its idiosyncrasies in a satisfyingly scary story." ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' gave the film a 4/5 stars rating and called it a "satisfying mind-twister, with an unexpectedly poignant pay-off". ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' said that ''Triangle'' only makes some kind of sense on its own fantastic level. ''
Time Out London ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...
'' reviewer Nigel Floyd praised George's "fearless, credible performance" that "grounds the madness in a moving emotional reality". ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' critic,
Philip French Philip Neville French Order of the British Empire, OBE (28 August 1933 – 27 October 2015) was an English film critic and radio producer. French began his career in journalism in the late 1950s, before eventually becoming a BBC Radio prod ...
compared it to a "
Möbius strip In mathematics, a Möbius strip, Möbius band, or Möbius loop is a surface that can be formed by attaching the ends of a strip of paper together with a half-twist. As a mathematical object, it was discovered by Johann Benedict Listing and Augu ...
" in which the viewer "wonders how Smith will keep things going" and added the viewer will "leave his picture suitably shaken". Fellow ''Guardian'' critic
Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...
wrote that ''Triangle'' is a "smart, interestingly constructed scary movie", complimenting Smith for "creating some real shivers".
Entertainment.ie ''Entertainment.ie'' is an Irish web company based in Dublin. The company provides news and reviews of programs and films for TV and the cinema. It also provides information on upcoming comedies, festivals, theater shows and music in Ireland, a ...
's Mike Sheridan was less impressed. Although he praised George's acting, he wrote that her performance "can't shield the fact that this still an exceptionally non-scary horror, that will have you scratching your head more than jumping out of your seat", ultimately rating it 2/5 stars. ''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'' called it "a trickily plotted and slickly made effort that nevertheless can't quite make its premise fly in gripping enough fashion".


See also

*
List of films featuring time loops This list of films featuring time loops where characters experience the same period of time which is repeatedly resetting: when a certain condition is met, such as a death of a character or a clock reaches a certain time, the loop starts again, w ...


References


External links

* * {{Christopher Smith 2009 films 2009 horror films 2009 psychological thriller films 2000s horror thriller films 2000s mystery thriller films 2000s psychological horror films Australian horror thriller films Australian mystery thriller films British horror thriller films British mystery thriller films British psychological horror films British psychological thriller films 2000s English-language films Films about autism Films about child death Films about dysfunctional families Films about time travel Films directed by Christopher Smith Films set in the Bermuda Triangle Films set in Florida Films set on ships Films shot on the Gold Coast, Queensland Icon Productions films Mystery horror films Time loop films 2000s British films