Rapid Review: Honeymoon (2014)

“Where’s my wife?”
– Paul

SYNOPSIS: Young newlyweds Paul and Bea travel to remote lake country for their honeymoon. Shortly after arriving, Paul finds Bea wandering and disoriented in the middle of the night. As she becomes more distant and her behavior increasingly peculiar, Paul begins to suspect something more sinister than sleepwalking took place in the woods. – via IMDB

Well, this was a movie I was looking forward to. I loved the posters and the artwork and all of it. Naturally, I was thrilled when it finally arrived (though this has been lying in my drafts folder for an age). I grabbed my other half, convinced him this was no chick flick and geared up. It started with a bang. It was shot beautifully, the couple was adorable, the acting was just fine, I liked it. I liked the way that things started getting strange, and Will and Annie surely brought something darker in. The score was fantastic, always just beneath the surface, never stepping to the fore and taking over, just lingering in the background, complementing every scene. Now, Honeymoon, never really delves too deeply into the story, which is something that counts both in its favour and against it. I can’t say too much, either, because I really don’t want to be spoiling for anyone. I loved not knowing too much, always wondering, I had my suspicions and all that (although, granted, it was pretty obvious as to what was going on – not very subtle hints). What I did not like is the way this movie just ended. I can deal with a movie just ending (think Enemy) where there is still some mystery and you are left to think. What I hate is feeling like I have been slapped in the face and just left hanging. That is exactly the conclusion that Honeymoon provides, which is such a pity because it was on such a roll! It played with a concept that is so dangerous to mess around with, yet it did so wonderfully… until the end. It was creepy and strange and all those things, which was great, but then it dipped and didn’t tie things up properly at the end. You know how much I adore loose strings. I loved watching Paul and Bea together, they were so in love with each other, and could survive the world if it were just them, and they did their best. When things start to go funny, I feel so sorry for Paul. It seems that they are both desperately trying to cling on to one another when things start to go off the rails, and they give it a damn fine run for its money, but eventually their honeymoon is certainly not going the way they had hoped. Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway work very well together in here, truly bringing it all together nicely. This movie has no jump scares, it does not make you question life or reality or anything like that, it just ends and settles. I liked the lack of jump scares, it relied more on the script and dialogue, and both were relatively good, though still very flawed (the dialogue in places just went pretty dodgy and unrealistic – especially in the beginning). There were some pretty nasty scenes in the movie – not a lot, but a few really gross ones here and there, but this just served to highlight how insane things were getting. Anyway, this will certainly not be for everyone, and was something I was thoroughly enjoying up until the conclusion. Worth looking into, for sure!