[Movie Review] Steffen Haars’ ‘Get Away’ Coming to Theaters

On December 6, Steffen Haars’ latest film, Get Away, will debut in theaters nationwide and is expected to be released on Shudder in 2025. The formal debut in the United States follows the film’s world premiere at Fantastic Fest hosted at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas in September. Having sold out the theater multiple times throughout the film festival, the anticipated success of Haars’ Get Away follows his famed collection of New Kids movies and more recently, Krazy House, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last January.

In Get Away, Haars teams up with Nick Frost once again, this time with Frost serving as the writer and producer of the horror comedy and acting as the character Richard, a father determined to take his family on a much-needed holiday to the small Swedish island of Svälta. Joining him is Aisling Bea (Susan, the mother), Sebastian Croft (Sam, the son), and Maisie Ayres (Jessie, the daughter). Collectively, the Smiths first appear to viewers as rather quirky, with each character a clear stereotype family member in and of themselves—think We’re The Millers (2013).

Despite warnings from folks on the mainland, the Smiths take the ferry to the island where, being greeted with immediate hostility, Susan reveals that Svälta’s early inhabitants killed her ancestors in a clearly unusual, but strangely comedic timing. Regardless of the ominous ties, the family’s Airbnb reservation was approved by a local, so they proceed to their vacation home, excited that the town elder (Anitta Suikkari) will be busy planning for the island’s annual Karantan festival—one of the main reasons they decided to pick this desolate location for holiday. While one might think the worst of the awkwardness is over, things only begin to get stranger, including the unloading of coffins from the dock—four to be exact—and the island folk throwing a dead animal on their doorstep, just to reference a few. You can’t help but wonder at this point if the family has been unwelcomed because the inhabitants are actually a cult or if they’re truly just a very private, very odd, and disconnected group of people.

The Horror-Comedy Genre

In many ways, I can appreciate how Frost (in his first solo writing feature I might add) was hyper-focused on the culture clash and playing with folk horror tropes. The repeated uneasiness viewers get from the Smiths and islanders’ interactions is the perfect stage for one-liner jokes and finding the silver lining in a holiday gone wrong. These instances, paired with the family’s butting of heads and humorous jabs at one another, in addition to their ignorance in avoiding multiple bright red flags regarding this location for their holiday, keep the pace going. To add another layer to the story, we eventually find out that on the mainland, someone has killed the restaurant owners where the family last ate before boarding the ferry to the island. With investigations taking place in a sidequest of the film’s ongoing timeline, in the back of our minds, we are wondering and juggling when exactly the islanders, or a perhaps serial killer on the loose, will kill the Smiths.

What started as a run of little hints into what could happen next based on the islander’s private meetings and plans for the festival, and who we think might be our lingerie-dressed killer, in addition to the screen’s day-by-day countdown to Karatan eventually turned into a walk toward the film’s climax. Although nothing could have prepared me for the twist that awaited, the journey to get there was admittedly slowed and in retrospect, a clear diversion of what was happening behind the scenes we didn’t get to see all along. Where the storyline had lost its pace, this reveal kicked the film’s screenplay back into hyperdrive, delivering sick humor and a truly hilarious ending. For fans of the ever-growing horror-comedy genre, I suggest you give this film a watch upon its release.

Where to watch Get Away:

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Article by Destiny King

Destiny is a supporting member of the Horror Writers Association who’s been working in B2B publishing for nearly a decade. Her favorite horror subgenres are true crime, found footage, and psychological thrillers. Find her on Letterboxd.

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