Directed by Pat Mills
Written by Alyson Richards
Starring Sarah Allen, Aaron Ashmore, Munro Chambers
Runtime: 1 hour 22 minutes
In theaters and digitally May 21

by Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

Valerie (Sarah Allen) invites her girlfriend Renee (Tommie-Amber Pirie) to a cabin retreat with some of her friends. It seems she hopes this trip will get Renee to open up and maybe get their relationship on a more serious path. However, relationship conversations get pushed aside when the couple realizes their friends are not there. Then they realize they are being watched and their car and phones go missing. The couple has walked into a deadly trap set up by unknown assailants and they will have to fight for their lives. 

The film is being advertised as a “lesbian slasher,” and although it does have many slasher vibes, the film does not entirely play out the way I had thought. While I may have had Friday the 13th vibes in the back of my head, it plays out more as a Most Dangerous Game kind of scenario. It becomes clear that the couple is being targeted because of their sexual orientation which is an interesting twist on this kind of horror subgenre. It has some camp elements to it but I had hoped it would be more fun than it ultimately was. Several scenes in the film are hard to watch, both because of how dark it was on my television and because of the violence towards gay people. While the film ultimately has an ending that will be pretty satisfying to most audiences, it hit maybe a little too close to home for me in a world where Trumpers and Parlor users still spout their hate and violent fantasies. However the film gets campy and fun enough that it helps temper that. 

The cast were all giving really great performances. Neither of the leads were that familiar to me but I thought they had great chemistry and really worked as the protagonists. You get enough insight on them as people to make them likeable and make you empathize with what they are going through. There are also some other actors that were recognizable for their tv appearances and genre roles like Aaron Ashmore (Veronica Mars, The Thaw) and Rossif Sutherland who was in one of the best horror films of 2020, Possessor. These familiar faces were fun and they did a great job while giving the leading ladies their moments to shine. 

Its initial set up evokes some of the “city slickers vs. redneck” tropes of the 70s and 80s. It brought to mind things like I Spit on Your Grave or Deliverance while giving it its own modern day twist. And while it ultimately does not feel like it has the cult staying power that newer films like You’re Next and Hush have, this evokes a lot of the same tonal beats giving us some pretty fun and worthwhile final girl energy. Its synthy/pop soundtrack also evokes some of that Wingard energy I love so much. 

Besides the hard to see scenes in darkness the film did look really great. So much of it takes place in the woods at the peak fall season, drenching it in lots of warm yellows and reds that make for a beautiful setting even when there is tons of blood shed. Once the gore really ramped up the film became a real fun ride with several enjoyable kills. They also do a good job as shying away from the violence of the queer characters which I appreciated. While I would not call it a twitch, the film does a good job of making a slashereque film of its own and peppering in some social commentary in regards to the toxicity of the bigots who exist among us. 

The Retreat was overall a good watch and while moments perhaps made me uncomfortable it has some great characters and treats them with the respect I would want to see in a film like it. Director Pat Mills and writer Alyson Richards were both new to me but they crafted and wrote a good film and they are welcome voices in modern horror cinema.