Triangle

Friday 30th October 2009, 10:32AM GMT.

The circle of life is a giant Moebius strip in Christopher Smith’s disorienting third feature.

Clinging onto some of the horror conventions from his previous films (Creep, Severance), the Bristol-born writer-director tries out his sea legs as he spins an intentionally ambiguous yarn guaranteed to have audiences scratching their heads.

Similarities to the 2007 Spanish thriller Timecrimes, written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, are inescapable, right down to the time-bending plot and the use of a sack mask to conceal the killer’s true identity.

Imitation, plagiarism, spooky coincidence…

fans of Vigalondo’s ingenious and little-seen cinematic conundrum will suffer a nasty case of deja vu, rather like the increasingly unhinged heroine of Smith’s film.

Single mother Jess (Melissa George) yearns for a break from the tears and tantrums of her autistic son Tommy (Joshua McIvor).

So one Saturday morning, while the boy is at special needs school, she agrees to a day trip on a yacht called Triangle with potential beau Greg (Michael Dorman), his hunky roommate Victor (Liam Hemsworth) and friends Downey (Henry Nixon) and Sally (Rachael Carpani).

They bring along singleton Heather (Emma Lung) as a potential love match for Greg, the captain of the ship.

With almost no warning, the boat is caught in the eye of a massive electrical storm.

Triangle capsizes, stranding the friends at sea…

until a 1930s ocean liner, the SS Aeolus, emerges from the mist.

The pals happily climb on board, glad to be rescued from the briny, and are stunned to find the boat deserted.

They can’t even find the shadowy figure they glimpsed on the deck as the liner drew near.

Jess is incredibly unsettled.

‘I feel like I know this place.

I recognise this corridor,’ she shakily confides in Greg.

When members of the group subsequently fall foul of a masked figure, the traumatised single mother attempts to make sense of the complex mystery unravelling around her.

Opening with Jess cradling her boy, tears coursing down her cheeks as she consoles him, ‘It was just a bad dream,’ Triangle is smoke and mirrors for the opening half hour.

A peculiar distress call, received during the electrical storm, and Jess’ erratic behaviour add to the mystery.

Just when it seems we have a handle on Smith’s intentions, he throws a narrative curveball that sends the film spinning in a completely new direction.

George is dragged through the emotional wringer, delivering a performance that makes sense once the film’s elaborate overall design becomes clear.

She is in almost every frame, leaving little room for supporting cast to make their mark.

Smith’s ambitious vision occasionally surpasses the technology at his disposal, resulting in unconvincing digital effects that fail to mesh seamlessly with live action elements.

However, for once, it’s storytelling which holds our attention, teasing and tantalising long after the credits roll.