The 13th Summer (2024) Review
The 13th Summer (2024) Review
Danger lurks beneath the dunes in THE 13TH SUMMER, a gripping new Australian psychological thriller. Directed by Tam Sainsbury (PERFECT MESSY HOLIDAY) this fear-filled feature gets its UK digital debut on 9 September courtesy of Reel 2 Reel Films.
Following the breakdown of their marriage, Ben (Nathan Phillips – SNAKES ON A PLANE) and Vee (Hannah Levien – BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOUR) arrive at a secluded beach house for an annual holiday with their best friends Kate (Bec Hewitt – HOME AND AWAY) and Patrick (Jeremy Stanford – RELIC). However, this year Kate and Patrick don’t turn up. Instead, they find Alex (Ben Turland – NEIGHBOURS), a mysterious British backpacker who is reluctant to explain why he’s staying in their house.
As tensions escalate, the young couple finds themselves drawn into an increasingly twisted web of lies, deceit, sexual intrigue and ultimately, revenge. Never mind saving their relationship, will Vee and Ben be able to save themselves from the very worst fate?
Initially director Tam Sainsbury’s movie has a faint, very faint, whiff of Phillip Joyce’s 1989 thriller DEAD CALM, three people, two are a couple, with the man in the couple being noticeably older, and also a younger man who makes it clear that he finds the woman in the couple attractive, thus providing tension from the offset in their remote location. For the film’s first hour then tension builds slowly as Nathan Philips’ older man Ben locks horns with younger man Alex.
So far everything plays out as expected, nothing out of the ordinary that you have not seen before with Ben getting gnarly and bitter at every little thing that Alex does. Two-thirds of the way in everything you thought you knew is turned upside down and what follows then makes for an incredibly twisty and tight third act that is worth the wait. To say anything more would be to spoil the fun turns that come your way. I guarantee that you’ll be on the edge-of-your-seat and rethinking most of what you thought you knew during the film’s first hour.
