Review: Black Rock (2012)

How far would you go in the pursuit of survival? Black Rock faces this conundrum in gory detail, holding nothing back as an ill-fated attempt for three childhood friends to reconnect in a seemingly deserted island goes tragically wrong.

With lingering feuds between members of the group, Sarah (Kate Bosworth), Abby (Katie Aselton) and Lou (Lake Bell) set upon making the best of a more than tense situation and resolving their issues.

Things appear to be looking up as they find they aren’t alone on the island when a trio of hunting friends from the same social circles as the girls appear and join the group. That is until things take a turn for the worse and the girls find themselves fighting for their lives and assessing how far they are willing to go to survive.

Pulling no punches, executive producer, director and star Katie Aselton unashamedly hits the grisly mark with a thrilling survival flick.

The trio shine as they deal with the unthinkable situation they find themselves in whilst the tense dynamic helps this. Their chemistry is no mean feat with a running time of only eighty minutes and with Aselton developing a thriller she wanted to be realistic and in Black Rock, she has certainly done that.

Bosworth plays the social glue of the group to great effect as bickering former friends Aselton and Bell convincingly tread a tricky friendship path throughout the film.

The hunting trio, Henry (Will Bouvier), Derek (Jay Paulson), and Alex (Anslem Richardson) portray recently returned servicemen who appear scarred by battle and Paulson excels as the believably psychotic front man of the group.

Although the film runs on the shorter side of usual, Aselton delivers a piece which builds tension quickly from the start and maintains it until the high adrenaline and heart-thumping finale.