Blink Twice

''Blink Twice'' is a 2024 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Zoë Kravitz (in her directorial debut) from a script she wrote with E.T. Feigenbaum. The film stars Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat. It tells the story of a group of people invited to the private island of a billionaire tech mogul as something strange happens with the attendees.

''Blink Twice'' premiered at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles on August 8, 2024, and was released in the United States on August 23 by Amazon MGM Studios through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. The film grossed $48 million worldwide on a $20 million production budget, and received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Animal-themed nail artist and cocktail waitress Frida works an exclusive event with her friend Jess. She encounters billionaire tech mogul Slater King, who recently resigned as CEO for unspecified past behavior. He invites both to his private island.

There, Slater's assistant Stacy confiscates their phones. In attendance are Slater's friends and business partners: photographer Vic, private chef Cody, DJ Tom, and college graduate Lucas. The three other female guests include reality show star Sarah, aspiring app developer Camilla, and lawyer/stoner Heather. The women are treated with lavish rooms, gift bags of perfume, potent hallucinogens, and high-end meals and cocktails prepared by Cody.

Frida clashes with Sarah over Slater's attentions while Jess notices memory lapses. The local workers all sport the same snake tattoo, and Frida has strange encounters with a maid who seems to recognize her and calls her "Red Rabbit".

Slater's therapist Rich visits and receives a red gift bag. He is surprised Frida remembers their previous gala encounter. During a night of partying, Jess is bitten by a snake. She tells Frida she wants to leave and says she distrusts the others, believing something terrible is happening. Frida rejects this, and wants to stay because she feels "seen" for the first time in her life. Reluctantly, Jess agrees to stay.

The next morning, Frida comes upon a cottage filled with dozens of identical red gift bags. Frida encounters the maid, who persuades her to drink snake venom from a bottle. Frida experiences fleeting flashbacks of disturbing events. At breakfast, the men announce they are going fishing. While the women are getting facials, Frida realizes that Jess is missing, but the other women do not remember Jess at all.

Sarah finds a lighter with Jess's name inscribed on it. She approaches Frida with it, but Sarah is skeptical that Jess was among them since she cannot remember her. Frida realizes that she has also had memory lapses and eventually convinces Sarah of what is happening. They go to the hut filled with gift bags. They find bottles of perfume made from a flower indigenous to the island, the scent of which wipes out memories. Discerning that the snake venom is an antidote to the flower's effects, Frida persuades Sarah to drink some, at which point Sarah's memory begins to return. They realize that the women were brought to the island to be systematically raped and sexually assaulted by the men.

The pair trick the other women into drinking the venom to restore their memories. Frida sneaks into Slater's office to retrieve their phones, only to find they are not working. Frida finds photos of other women and men with red gift bags, revealing that Slater invites guests to rape women and wipe out their memories. The men are given the perfume to use when they leave the island.

Frida's memories fully return, and she recalls the men brutally raping the women every night and wiping away their memories using the flower. They killed Jess because her memories could not be erased as she was bitten by the snake and had venom in her system.

That night, Frida and Sarah attempt to maintain the facade at dinner, whilst preparing for their escape. When Slater notices Frida's demeanor has changed, the two women erotically dance on the dinner table to distract the men. Frida has a memory of Slater setting up Rich to rape her the same night he was on the island; Slater assures him Frida will not remember the assault.

Camilla and Heather's memories return, and they are horrified by their experiences. Camilla stabs Tom to death while Heather badly injures Vic before being fatally shot by Stan, Slater's security guard. Slater kills Camilla, and the men hide in Slater's villa, where he mocks Lucas for doing nothing while being complicit in their crimes.

Stacy attacks Frida, preferring to be ignorant of the truth, which forces Frida to stab her to death. Stan chases Frida but is bludgeoned to death by Sarah, who takes his gun. Cody runs into the woods but is killed by Sarah. In the villa, Lucas tries to escape but is shot in a trap Frida and Sarah set for Slater. Afterward, Slater traps Frida in the villa. It is revealed that Frida was on the island the year before, was raped and assaulted by Slater, and bit off Vic's pinky finger before her memories were wiped. The maid recognized Frida from her red rabbit fingernails, hence her naming earlier.

When Slater leaves the villa to search for Sarah, Frida laces his vape with the perfume. The effects make him forget the previous events and panic upon seeing the bodies. Slater slips and knocks himself unconscious as the villa catches fire. Frida and Sarah escape, leaving Vic to die but saving Slater.

Some time later, Rich encounters a disoriented Slater at another gala. Frida is now married to Slater and is CEO of his company. She has Rich removed from the gala as she is recognized for her accomplishments.

Cast

Production

Zoë Kravitz started writing ''Blink Twice'' under the working title ''Pussy Island'' in 2017. In June 2021, Kravitz announced that she would make her directorial debut with the film from a script co-written with E.T. Feigenbaum. Channing Tatum signed on to star and, at the Cannes Film Market, MGM won the distribution rights as Naomi Ackie was cast as Frida, the film's lead role. The rest of the cast was announced from May to June 2022, with Jordan Harkins and Stacy Perskie joining the film as executive producers.

Filming began on June 23, 2022, with production occurring in Yucatán and Quintana Roo, Mexico. In January 2024, the film's title was changed from ''Pussy Island'' to ''Blink Twice''; Kravitz explained that issues formed with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) "not wanting to put it on a poster, or a billboard, or a kiosk; movie theaters not wanting to put it on a ticket" but also mentioned, "Interestingly enough, after researching it, women were offended by the word, and women seeing the title were saying, 'I don't want to see that movie,' which is part of the reason I wanted to try and use the word, which is trying to reclaim the word, and not make it something that we're so uncomfortable using. But we're not there yet. And I think that's something I have the responsibility as a filmmaker to listen to."

Music

The film score was composed by Chanda Dancy, who got involved after a music supervisor at MGM sought her out. Dancy and Kravitz collaborated by sending each other clips of sounds they would hear in the wild, and had a number of inspirations ranging from ''gagaku'' to Igor Stravinsky's compositions to Indonesian drumming to the theme song from ''Fantasy Island''. The soundtrack album was released digitally on August 23, 2024, through Lakeshore Records, with its first two tracks released by '' ComingSoon.net'' the previous day. The film additionally features songs like LCD Soundsystem's " Dance Yrself Clean", James Brown's "People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul", and " Ain't Nobody" by Rufus and Chaka Khan. Dancy's score was shortlisted for Best Original Score at the 97th Academy Awards.

Release

''Blink Twice'' premiered at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles on August 8, 2024, and it was released in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios on August 23, 2024, with Warner Bros. Pictures releasing the film internationally on August 21, 2024. On August 21, Amazon issued a trigger warning for the film on Twitter for "mature themes and depictions of violence – including sexual violence", which ''Variety'' noted was rare for a studio to do but part of a growing trend in Hollywood beyond MPA ratings. The warning was also attached before theatrical screenings.

Reception

Box office

''Blink Twice'' has grossed $23.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $23.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $46.4 million.

In the United States and Canada, ''Blink Twice'' was released alongside ''The Crow'' and '' The Forge'', and was projected to gross $7–8 million from 3,067 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2.9 million on its first day, including an estimated $820,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $7.3 million, finishing fourth at the box office. The film made $4.8 million in its second weekend.

Critical response

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave the film an overall positive score of 74% (including an average of 3 out of 5 stars), with 50% saying they would definitely recommend it.

'' Time Out''s Ian Freer described the film as "one of the wildest rides of 2024", stating, "It's a film about the abuses of power, the dangers of being a woman in a man's world and the importance of female solidarity, but is never didactic, just gripping. In short, ''Blink Twice'' is both brainfood and a blast." Writing for ''The Atlantic'', Shirley Li labeled the film "a sharp and exciting debut with a strong emotional point of view", while Peter Travers praised it as a promising directorial debut despite its predictability. Wendy Ide of ''The Guardian'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, lauding it as "slickly efficient", "highly entertaining", and "visually rich". She notes that while some elements of the screenplay may not withstand rigorous scrutiny, the "glorious savagery" of the final act more than compensates for it. Filmmaker Malcolm Washington cited it as one of his favorite films of 2024.

In a review for RogerEbert.com, Peyton Robinson gave the film 1 out of 4 stars, stating that it fails to meaningfully engage with its themes about "the sinister capabilities of rich white men." She criticizes the writing as a "chop shop of buzzwords" that lacks depth and nuance, merely calling out issues without exploring them, making it "an affirmation of a tired, simple narrative toolbox being sold as unflinching feminist grit." Robinson describes the film's humor as "unfunny" and ineffective, stating it doesn't earn laughs or manage serious topics with intelligence. She praises the performances, especially Tatum's and Ackie's, but ultimately concludes that the film is a "homespun exploitation" with a "pretentious conclusion", lacking the courage needed for impactful storytelling. Robinson's review for ''Blink Twice'' aligns with Ross McIndoe of ''Slant Magazine'', who noted that the film "has thoughts about the danger that men can pose", but criticized it for offering only a surface-level understanding of these dynamics. Brooks Eisenbise of ''Chicago Reader'' called it "clumsy and overworked yet valiant endeavor" and asserted that as a thriller, "it's a cliched and badly paced mess."

Odie Henderson of ''The Boston Globe'' argued that while the film attempts a feminist message, "it's ultimately just a slasher movie with a bunch of one-dimensional Final Girls." He notes that the plot unravels upon closer examination, and its slow pacing allows ample time to reflect on it while still in the theater, failing to maintain the brisk pacing necessary to suspend disbelief. Henderson highlights that the film's initial half presents a series of repetitive scenes where characters engage in drinking, substance use, and poolside lounging, and contends that Kravitz's reliance on these sequences fails to provide any visual intrigue or meaningful character development, making the film look like "a boring reality TV show."

Accolades

References

External links

* {{IMDb title

2024 directorial debut films
2024 psychological thriller films
2020s American films
2020s English-language films
2020s feminist films
Amazon MGM Studios films
American feminist films
American psychological thriller films
American rape and revenge films
English-language thriller films
Films about memory erasure and alteration
Films set on islands
Films shot in Mexico
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Warner Bros. films