The Triangle (2016)

Running Time: 1hr 34min

Release Date: June 28, 2016

Written/Directed by: David Blair, Nathaniel Peterson, Adam Pitman, Andrew Rizzo, Adam Stilwell

Review by: Stacey

A found footage movie about a "cult"?  Sign me up!  I had actually heard about The Triangle (not to be confused with '09s time-bending Triangle) a while back, but what drew me to it (ff and cults) was also what turned me off to rushing to see it.  As I've mentioned several times before, the sub-genre is a guilty pleasure of mine, but also one that is FULL of more misses than hits, so I usually go into these with some trepidation; not to mention most horror flicks about cults seem to follow the same formula.  I was sure The Triangle was going to follow in the same footsteps as movies like The Sacrament, but lemme tell ya, I was pretty surprised by this one.

Four filmmaker friends find themselves heading to a remote commune after receiving a strange postcard from an estranged friend of theirs inviting them to come and document the community.  Naturally, they end up finding out that there's more going on than expected.

Considering this movie is a few years old, there will be SPOILERS but only mild ones because I don't think a ton of folks have gotten to see this one yet.

As you can see from the quick plot synopsis, it doesn't sound too far off base from cult-related flicks we've seen before, yeah?  What The Triangle decided to do to set itself a part from the others is have a pretty compelling mystery attached to it as opposed to following your typical "cults are bad" lead.  I mean, I guess really what we find out is that this group of people who decided to move away from society for collective reasons weren't the bad guys.

If you noticed, the list of writers/directors totals up to FIVE people.  Those five people just so happen to be the lead actors, as well.  Turns out everyone on the cast list is playing "himself/herself", basically, which makes a bit more sense when some scenes seem more improvised than others and the interactions are more natural.  I tend to appreciate a found footage flick more when there's less of a script to follow.  In addition to writing/shooting/acting, several of the guys had their hands in the editing as well as cinematography.  Speaking of editing, I read that it took several years for them to edit The Triangle, which I'm not sure is a good or bad thing.

While the story itself was slow-moving, I found myself checking the time stamp and saying "wow, an hour has passed already?  That flew by!"  Once there was the reveal of the mystery and the fact that it probably wasn't going to go down like expected, I was invested.

You all know I'm not without my gripes, so I have to complain a little bit about what bothered me in the movie.  Going back to the editing/camerawork, I did have some issues with the overuse of split screens which got a little too hectic at times, especially when some camera angles were shakier than others.  Not to mention the fact that I eventually gave up figuring out who was behind the camera each time and just let it happen.  Another thing was the constant high-pitched tone that was pretty prevalent throughout the second and third acts, which I get were a main part of the story, but goddamn, I had to mute my tv more than once because it was becoming way too annoying.

  Ok ok, I have one more complaint, which is my main one; there was little to no resolution in the end.  We got our explanations for the commune, the mystery, the high-pitched buzz, but we never got WHY or WHAT it all was in the end.  It's clearly meant to be an open interpretation, but sometimes ya just wanna get fed the answers, dammit!  Especially considering that this was a story I found myself invested in.  Although I can't be sure I'd be any more pleased if I was given all the answers, to be honest.  Clearly the movie has stuck with me even after viewing- even just trying to put my own spin on what the truth could be.

I think some people will be miffed by the ending, the story, the camera work.  People find reasons.  The Triangle definitely isn't one that's going to be liked by everyone, but I'm chalking this one up to a hit, myself, and appreciating its veering into different territory in a formulaic land that's easy to get lost in.

3/5

Check out the trailer below!

(Streaming on Amazon now)