Black Rock (2012)

Kate Aselton's Black Rock concerns three girls who venture out into what they believe is a deserted, peaceful island encompassed by woods and unrefined nature until they run into three war veterans who are spending their time out in the countryside hunting and living off the land. The girls invite them to their camp for longnecks and food, when one tries to rape and attack one of the girls. This leads to turmoil and tension between the three girls and vets, who are now playing a cat and mouse game with each other in an unfamiliar turf.

The girls are Abby (played by director Kate Aselton), Lou (Lake Bell), and Sarah (Kate Bosworth). Lou and Abby haven't spoken in months after a cheating incident left them what appeared to be irreparably broken and hurt. Sarah tries to be the glue that holds the three girls closer, claiming that they could die from unexpected circumstances tomorrow and they wouldn't have the luxury of "living," if that makes sense. As always, the planned outing turns deadly in a series of unforeseen events that will scar each of them for life.

If you go by the premise itself, it's undoubtedly so that Black Rock seems to accentuate and thrive off of every viable cliché in the suspense/thriller booklet. However, the film maintains careful plotting and a focused mindset, making its female characters more than the kind to cry and scream. One of the smartest things it does is avoid misogyny and dreary cynicism. It doesn't capitalize off of the known-effect its scene of brutality and assault will inevitably have on a viewer. It doesn't bask in the nihilistic light that films like I Spit on Your Grave have. It seems to function with the style and format that Wes Craven's classic Last House on the Left had. There was a film that took the most mean-spirited, vile plot and turned it into something of a subversive art, if you will, leaving misogyny at the door, while still amplifying the sickness of the situation.

Black Rock, though, is even more careful than that film. It doesn't conduct itself as a parable on revenge and brutality, or make an attempt to soften the violence that is featured in the film. Aselton is smart about what she shows and what she makes the film touch on more. The on-location shooting in Maine, showing the untouched wilderness and woodsy environment is terrific, the crackling of twigs and leaves brilliantly makes use of the naturalism this story begs for, and the wide-variety of camera angles and shot-setups make this as interesting as can possibly be aesthetically. The film surprisingly doesn't even feel like a film that tries to push the idea that women can be as tough as men or possess the unsung ability to fight back. This is a tale of survival and gender roles and commonalities seem to have no business being talked about here.

The film was written (or perhaps outlined) by Mark Duplass (Aselton's husband), who I've stated several times is one of my favorite men in the business. Duplass, usually working alongside his brother Jay, has created some of the strongest independent films of recent years and written some of the most unique and intimate films I've ever seen. Many of these films go under the name of a cinematic movement called "mumblecore," which is predicated off of amateurish performances, low-quality cameras, home-movie-esque aesthetics, and improvised scripts. Duplass's minimalist writing and story put with Aselton's reserved but competent direction makes the film that much more gra

Fmovies: This movie plays like a bad joke. It suffers from horrendous pacing, lack of plot twists, sub par acting villains and bad script. Summarized in one word: Boring. It lacked charisma and spirit from the main characters and at one point I was laughing my ass off at the movie, and its not supposed to be funny.

The bad guys are like a bad joke, the main characters are like a bad dream and the screenplay is like a little kid playing with old toys absentmindedly.

The producers could have donated the budget to art schools instead of producing this joke of a movie. Please find something else to do instead of wasting precious time to see this film.

Kate Bosworth plays Sarah, who deceives her two best friends, Lou and Abby, played by Lake Bell and Katie Aselton, into going on a camping trip on an remote island where they used to spend their summers together as children. After some hesitation, Lou and Abby decide to put their personal issues with one another aside to make Sarah happy and camp for the weekend. During some drinking around a fire on the beach, the three women find themselves in the company of three hunters, one of which a drunken Abby decides to flirt with. The consequences of her behavior leads to murder and a terrifying fight for survival.

Black Rock is based on a story and directed by Katie Aselton. The screenplay is written by her husband, Mark Duplass. The Duplass Brothers became a beloved name through the film festival circuit that spread into Hollywood. Considered indie film heroes, they have written and directed The Puffy Chair, Baghead, Cyrus, Jeff Who Lives At Home as well as executive produced the indie hit of 2012, Safety Not Guaranteed, which Mark starred in as well. It was their first film, The Puffy Chair, that introduced us to Mark and Katie, who stole our hearts as a lovable modern couple. Off the big screen both Mark and Katie star in the television series, The League.

Black Rock is at the same time a dramatic thriller and a survival horror with enough shocks, blood and tension to turn away many lovers of both Katie and Mark's previous work. This has lead to negativity towards the film. This is unfortunate because Black Rock very clearly states it is a horror/thriller yet it seems that either these certain audiences and critics didn't bother to take note of the genre or were hoping it to somehow miraculously become something more light-hearted.

Black Rock is not as audience friendly as previous films by the filmmakers associated with the film and for a horror/thriller, it shouldn't be. The story stays quite believable which is rarely achieved in this genre, the characters and dialogue are well-written, the performances are as good as they can be and Katie Aselton shows a lot of promise as a director.

Black Rock fmovies. First off, I have to say that I was genuinely excited to see this film. The synopsis for the film, and the overall idea sounded like it could be a promising addition to the thriller genre. Instead, I walked out of the film feeling underwhelmed and, ultimately, cheated. The film holds a runtime of a little below an hour and thirty minutes and, dear Lord do you feel every pain staking minute. The characters are wildly under developed and lucid, especially Kate Bosworth's character. While the film should focus on the girl's relationships with one another, it doesn't...it doesn't even come close to touching it. Instead, it goes right into introducing the evil male characters without ever developing any sentimental feelings for any of the three main girls played by Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth and Katie Aselton (the director). Forgive me for the lack of information of these characters, it is only due to the fact that each of them are so uninteresting and depraved that I can't even remember who was who. The direction and writing on this film is vastly inept, taking what should be breath taking scenes and molding them into scenes of ultra violence and shock that never materializes to be nothing less than terrible. The cast is trying their best to make this female rip off of Deliverence work, but ultimately it comes down to the direction of Katie Aselton that makes this film nothing more than a made for TV movie on Lifetime. Lake Bell tries to put the scream queen crown on but, yet again, it is bogged down by terrible direction and even worse, a horrible script from Mark Duplass. Overall, the film is stupid, undercooked, over acted, and under directed. This is a student film with Hollywood talent, which makes it an especially grueling experience and the worst film of 2013 thus far.

This movie is about 3 girls who were friends growing up, get together and go to an isolated island. You'd think they'd spend time catching up but almost immediately meet up with.....yup, 3 guys. Who turn out to be not so friendly. Quickly it turns into an all out girl vs guy fight for survival. And to get back off island alive. All the characters are poorly developed and seem so dry and unbelievable. The storyline is predictable and slow. Maybe even tedious. It's a shame because the story sounded good and had a decent cover. This movie had great potential that was not realized. It's a shame more time wasn't spent on this movie.

Sarah (Kate Bosworth) travels with her friend Lou (Lake Bell) to spend the weekend camping in the remote Black Rock Island that was part of their childhood. When they arrive to get their motor boat, Lou sees Abby (Katie Aselton) waiting for Sarah and they decide to give up traveling to the island. Lou and Abby were friends in the past but after an incident with Abby's boyfriends, they have been estranged for many years and do not talk to each other. However, Sarah convinces them to travel with her to Black Rock.

When they are resolving their issues, they meet their former schoolmate Henry (Will Bouvier) that is hunting with his friends from the army Derek (Jay Paulson) and Alex (Anslem Richardson) that worship Henry and Abby invites them to have dinner and drink with them on the beach. Abby gets drunk and she flirts with Henry and he makes a move on her. There is a tragic accident with Henry and his friends decide to revenge him.

"Black Rock" is a movie with a collection of clichés and a history based on moronic decisions. The plot is OK with Sarah trying to make up the situation between Abby and Lou and then the girls inviting Henry and his friends to recall the old times at school. However, Abby's inappropriate behavior and comments, despite she is drunk or not, does not make sense since the guys are strangers and ruins the story. The decision of the deranged Derek and Alex of killing the girls can be accepted, but the two clumsy guys armed with rifles being defeated by unarmed girls, missing or failing the shots is an absurd cliché. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Terror na Ilha" ("Terror in the Island")