Triangle is a 2009 psychological horror film about a group of friends who head out on a yachting trip. But it’s not exactly smooth sailing, as a freak storm leaves them stranded, only to be picked up by what is effectively the HMS Overlook.
British genre filmmaker Christopher Smith swaps the grimy aesthetic of the London Underground-set Creep for the sunny skies and blue seas of the USA, but loses none of his twisted nastiness in the process. Smith is heavily influenced by video nasties and contributes to Jake West’s brilliant documentaries on the subject, an influence that lends his films a lack of safety so crucial to good horror cinema. Triangle doesn’t so much twist around as grotesquely contort, into a twisty puzzle movie sort of like an offshore Saw.
Melissa George
Some ropey CGI and acting never get in the way of Smith’s ingenious plotting. The psychological subtext deep beneath the surface of Smith’s seafaring scaring surprises and disturbs in equal measure, with an ending that sticks cruelly in your mind and makes you think. And we all know how rare that is in modern horror.
Triangle is clever, crazy and incredibly creepy, its rich plot reminiscent of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. With a scary ship that even has its own Room 237, this is the most horrifying thing to happen on a boat since James Cameron’s Titanic.
