Following the sudden death of his father, a small town man experiences bizarre hallucinations and inadvertently puts his family in danger.

HORROR/SCI-FI

The Block Island Sound (2020)

Written and Directed by Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus

Starring Chris Sheffield, Michaela McManus, Neville Archambault, Ryan O'Flanagan, Matilda Lawler, Jim Cummings

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Connor Eyzaguirre

December 19, 2022

6/10

I was so sure that this film was going to be about a sea monster, but I was wrong. Now that I got that out of the way, I can say The Block Island Sound is an intriguing sci-fi horror flick that has a number of creepy moments, but ultimately falls flat due to a lack of commitment and a snail's pace. Spoiler alert, but it's aliens. However, it's sort of shoved into the ending in a very unoriginal way and explained away as a sort of intergalactic science experiment. Most of the movie is watching a man unravel due to a tragic loss, a lack of family support, and just general assholery. Apart from the random flashes of dead Dad, there's very few moments of horror.

Harry (Sheffield) lives with his father (Archambault) in the small community of Block Island. When his father is found dead on the beach after he went missing, Harry starts to experience hallucinations and a strange humming sound near the ocean. His sister Audry (McManus) just thinks he's crazy and wants him to find help, but once Harry starts blacking out and doing weird shit during said blackouts, she seeks out a man who went through something similar. He tells her that aliens have possessed her brother and are making him carry out orders for them. It all sounds so exciting, but the pace of the film is dead slow. Maybe it's due to budget constraints or something, but most of the film is just dull.

You can sense a great deal of wasted potential here, which is a damn shame. I love alien horror movies and the concept here is neat. I think if they'd brought the aliens in a little earlier and toned down the family drama, this could've been something exciting. But nope. Just a crazy finger pointing upward and an invisible ship sucking up some fish.