Spoilers ahead.
I was not originally going to write a full post for "Blink Twice," the directing debut of Zoe Kravitz. I did a little capsule write-up as part of my post on 2024 summer thrillers and chillers. This was one of the better ones, but not at the top of the rankings. I found Kravitz's direction impressive, but you really don't want to scrutinize the mechanics of how any of the drugs or other mind-altering substances in "Blink Twice" work. However, I couldn't stop thinking about the movie, so I feel compelled to write a little more. Let's treat this as a post-viewing spoiler discussion.
I think the arrest of Sean Combs and the details coming out about his crimes had a lot of do with my continued interest. I think watching a couple of interviews with Zoe Kravitz did too. And seeing the film dismissed in some corners as "Get Out," but with #MeToo and anti-one percenter themes kinda riled me up to defend it. Yes, all the themes in "Blink Twice" are familiar and topical, but Kravitz really tackles them in a way that not many other directors have. There's a literal, prominent trigger warning at the beginning of the movie for a reason, but at the same time "Blink Twice" isn't difficult to watch. There's a lot of humor, action, and smart framing of events to get the horror and depravity across while still being very entertaining. The multiple jump scare sequence is one of my favorite parts, and I love the casual "what were we thinking?" banter when the women start putting the pieces together.
I also keep noticing similar imagery in other media. The private island vacation, the high end clothing, the beautifully plated food, and the luxury items in little gift bags are all things that you see again and again in modern media aimed at women, especially reality programs. All the Cinderella narratives seem to involve shopping sprees and makeovers, and so many happy endings involve shots of lazing on a tropical shore. Kravitz sets up these things as a trap, turning everything from the fancy drinks to the specifically designed clothing against our protagonists. People have pointed out that Olivia Wilde did similar things with "Don't Worry Darling," where the perfect version of the '50s was supposed to be the draw to keep the victims complacent. However, not very many people view the '50s as some kind of perfect ideal anymore - even the tradwife trend ditches the old aesthetics - and plenty of media from the last thirty years have happily subverted it. "Blink Twice" hits so much harder because it's using current signifiers of wealth and privilege, all the things that people aspire to have right now.
And let's not forget that Channing Tatum's Slater King is part of the package. As we've seen over and over again in recent years, a man with too much money and too much privilege usually turns out to be a monster. And yet, there's this terrible impulse to keep lionizing the people who win at capitalism, the Elon Musks and the Donald Trumps who have way too much control over our lives, even though they've demonstrated their total lack of decency and morality. Tatum's over the top performance as this unbelievable narcissist would seem implausible if we hadn't seen this kind of behavior normalized by real people in the upper echelons. And Haley Joel Osment and Simon Rex are there to remind you that even the harmless-looking funny guys can turn out to be predators.
I want to talk a little bit about the ending, which has attracted some controversy. Frieda, played by Naomi Ackie, decides to turn the situation to her advantage rather than expose the truth. She proves just as cutthroat as her subjugators, and just as willing to exploit her newfound power. It's a dark turn, but a smart one. I choose to interpret it as a reminder that women are just as susceptible to being monsters, and men can certainly be victimized. And this kind of nuance is why I think "Blink Twice" comes across so much better than most of the socially conscious horror that I've seen recently. If you want a happy ending for Frieda, it has to come with a price.
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