Black Rock (2012) - Katie Aselton

Sarah, Abby, and Lou are three childhood friends who set aside their differences and reunite for a girls' weekend on a remote island off the coast of Maine.  A relaxing vacation is exactly what the three girls needed but when an unexpected incident occurs, they find themselves in a deadly fight for survival.  Katie Aselton's Black Rock is a horror/thriller with a basic premise that ultimately fails to be anything but another generic and uninteresting horror film.   Black Rock spends a lot of time early on focused on the animosity that Lou and Abby have for one and other, stemming from an adulterous night in their past.  It's somewhat interesting as a character device, especially when shit hits the fan, but the film unfolds in a way that is as bland and boring as shouting:  Nothing brings out female empowerment like a pair of psychopaths out to kill you! In an odd way the film almost seems to want to be an allegory about woman's oppression in a society driven by men, but everything from the story to the direction is unfocused and vapid.  I personally do believe that Katie Aselton is a talented individual but the direction of this film is incredibly sloppy, almost as if she watched a bunch of horror movies and simply copied their style.  On the bright site, Black Rock does have its moments of strong tension and horror with a finale that features some pretty primal-type violence.   Black Rock is a lean horror film that has far too many laughably character decisions and suspect writing to make it anything more than utterly forgettable and quite frankly, uninteresting.
5/10

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