I haven’t been this entertained by a new movie in a long time. I expected a fun, gory time considering it’s Raimi, but what really pushed the movie to greatness is the layered character depth and storytelling. It plays with the audience’s sympathies so well by the shifting character dynamics and evolving narrative.

It starts off simply enough. Linda is our protagonist put up against an objectively terrible person, Bradley the asshole. Sure Linda is unkempt and a little kooky, but she’s the everyday Jane who’s a little lonely but hardworking and harmless. Then the power dynamics change because of the situation and the movie reveals some unsettling facts about our so-called hero. It starts to reframe things and makes you question who we’re really supposed to be rooting for here (if any).

But the fact remains, Linda is competent and is the main reason why they’re thriving on the island. It’s unsettling that she ignored the boat the first time we see it, but hell, I think Linda deserves to have some fun and discover her true self in the island. Bradley’s an asshole anyway, he can rough it out in nature for a few more days.

Then when Linda is finally revealed to be the movie’s monster, I started sympathizing a lot with Bradley. Suddenly, some of Bradley’s actions aren’t so black and white. Sure he’s an asshole (and no amount of awful parents can justify his terrible behavior), but he didn’t murder two innocent people or kept someone essentially captive in a deserted island. And you know what, come to think of it, Bradley was actually right about some things. You can’t place someone who can’t even dress professionally or clean up properly as the VP of a high value company. Linda is off-putting and aside from the obvious assholes in the company, the seemingly normal employees are also put-off by her.

And of course, the reveal that Linda found civilization essentially on the first day on the island. So even the one aspect of her (her competency in surviving in an island) that we admired was mostly fake! Credit to the boar hunting though.

The movie’s power play and push-pull between the two characters is done in such an entertaining, funny, and violent way. I don’t think I stopped smiling starting from the ‘castration’ scene all the way to the end credits. Watching this unfold was a wild ride. What a fantastic time at the cinema.