Splatter: on FILM

Horrifying. Tragic. Unlovely. Why?
In a dystopian Britain, a widower finds himself stuck between two warring worlds – the hotel of love and the woods of the loners. The hotel staff teaches and tests in the ways of love, offering quirky events and daily checkups meant to help people find a mate. If hotel guests fail find their matches in 45 days however, they are turned into animals. The downtrodden main character, played by Colin Farrell, makes a series of bad choices then escapes the hotel and joins the loners who live with only one rule: never fall in love. In these woods he meets the narrator and his perfect match in Rachel Weisz.

It jolts from the start. Then impending death threatens at every corner. An odd romp to a summer camp hotel for sad solitary souls quickly turns terrifying and totally unpalatable with slow suicides, dogs kicked to death, murderous night hunts through the woods, threats of gore, and overt sexual scenes. It goes too far.

In short, The Lobster is a truly dark comedy which attempts to dollop sweet, quirky, memorable, A-list likable into a vat of horrific scenes I wish to wipe from my brain.