‘Get Away’ Review – Horror Comedy Culture Clash Offers Amusing Thrills [FF 2024]

Nick Frost is no stranger to horror comedies, having starred in such modern classics as Shaun of the Dead and Attack the Block. This year, the actor has already starred in Krazy House (review), and now he is reuniting with that film’s director Steffen Haars in Get Away, a frequently amusing folk horror comedy that relishes in bloodshed almost as much as it does cringe comedy.

The Smith Family, comprised of patriarch Richard (Nick Frost), matriarch Susan (Aisling Bea), sister Jessie (Maisie Ayres) and brother Sam (Heartstopper‘s Sebastian Croft), is spending their holiday on Svälta, a fictional Swedish island with a dark past tied to Susan’s ancestor. Despite warnings not to from quite literally everyone they cross paths with along the way, the Smiths arrive on the island and are greeted with immediate hostility from the mainlanders, especially from the skeptical town elder (Anitta Suikkari), who is busy directing a play for their annual Karantan festival. Upon arriving at their AirBnb, the Smith family starts to notice strange occurrences happening on the island, as well as a few too many coffins being loaded onto boats at the harbor, leading to a comically violent fight for survival as Karantan draws near.

Frost, in his first solo feature writing gig (he co-wrote 2014’s Cuban Fury and 2011’s Paul, the latter of which with fellow Shaun of the Dead alum Simon Pegg), hones in on the culture clash aspect of the premise for most of the film’s runtime, finding the Smith family in an endless series of awkward confrontations with the islanders. These do eventually wear thin, but for the first act it earns plenty of chuckles. There are a few lazy attempts at humor, but for every joke about Sam’s vegetarianism or AirBnb owner Matts’s penchant for wearing women’s lingerie, there’s a delightful non sequitur about the moistness of waffles waiting around the corner.

Shades of The Wicker Man are evident, and Frost is clearly having a ball playing with folk horror tropes much in the same way that Edgar Wright did with the cultists in Hot Fuzz. The social commentary has a bit of bite to it, with the British family frequently butting heads with the dubious Swedes while trying to remain as polite as possible, but a sharper edge would have been appreciated. The film is at its most entertaining, however, when it focuses on the dynamic between the dysfunctional members of the Smith family, especially when they so stubbornly ignore every single red flag that’s thrown in their faces.

Each of the actors playing the Smiths delight in their roles, especially as they get more and more on each other’s nerves, but special mention must be made of relative newcomer Ayres, who has impeccable comedic timing and is afforded most of the film’s best jokes. The islanders don’t fare as well, with Suikkari’s elder being the only one given an actual character to work with.

Pacing starts to drag as we veer towards the climax, with Frost attempting to build some suspense with title cards counting down the days until Karantan, to moderate success, but he saves face with a dramatic third act shift into a Grand Guignol explosion of violence. The comedy is still front and center, and Haars is reveling the chance to eke as much comedy as he can out of the bloodshed. The curveballs Frost’s script throws in these moments make you appreciate all of the attempts at misdirection in the first two acts.

Get Away gets by on the charms of its cast and an overall sense of demented glee, but it never aspires to be anything other than a frequently amusing diversion. One can’t help but wonder if the film would have been more successful if it laid all of its cards down earlier in the runtime rather than saving certain revelations for the finale, but once it gets there it’s a rollicking good time.

Get Away had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest and will be released exclusively in theaters on December 6, with a streaming release on Shudder in 2025.