Good afternoon, House of Madness couples:
Be honest, you've secretly plotted your other half's death. I'm not insinuating you've actually planned and outlined their actual murder, but you've definitely considered it in the heat of battle is all I'm saying. The time you were fast asleep dreaming of Channing Tatum, and just as he was about to reveal his Magic Mike, there's an impatient pounding on the front door, and as you finally make your way downstairs at 3am, there stands (barely) your drunken partner, smashed out of their minds, and instead of a simple "thank you", you get "Bout time!". Yeah, you've envisioned your partner's peril at one point or another, and even though it's not a realistic wish, you'd be a terrible liar if you denied the blood soaked fantasy of their beheading after putting the empty milk carton back in the fridge for the 573rd time. The difference between us and a cold-blooded killer is that we have the ability to have these sullen thoughts while quickly recovering back into non-murderous civilians, while a select few enact on their premeditated slaughtering skills, and whistle through the carnage. Isn't married life grand?
Husband and wife Lars (Aksel Hennie) and Lisa (Noomi Rapace) are in a bit of a marriage slump, to put it mildly. Lars goes through the motions of life as a television soap opera director, whilst Lisa continues auditioning for casting calls in hopes of landing a part more enchanting than the disappointed wife in erectile dysfunction commercials. The two decide to head up to Lars's father's cabin for the weekend in a pathetic effort to repair the sliver of life left in their marriage, but before they depart, Lars stops by the hardware store and buys himself the finest 'Ted Bundy Kit' money can buy. The two reach the cabin after some awkward road trip riff-raff, and things don't get any better once they arrive. Unresolved arguments resurface, old annoyances are revisited, and the inner hatred they have built up for each other has taken over their weekend in paradise. Lars realizes this was a huge waste of time, and as he's about to initiate 'Plan Skullcrusher' he's instead ambushed by Lisa with a taser, and the tides have been turned to the deadliest degree. Didn't see that coming.
Power struggles ensue as do their admittance of motives for wishing each other's demise, but Lisa soon finds herself outnumbered as their house caretaker Viktor (Stig Frode Henriksen) shows up at the pre-planned direction of Lars. Back and forth Lars and Lisa prey on the feeble mind of their friend until a conflict arises, and Viktor's hand is blown off by the shotgun they were fighting over, and as he tries to run out of the house in a panic, is subsequently shot in the back and killed instantly. Oops. Still the jilted lovers battle over the gun, until it goes off a second time, this time through the ceiling and and into the attic and buttocks of Roy (Andre Eriksen), where he and his two buddies Petter (Atle Antonsen) and Dave (Christian Rubeck) have been hiding out after a prison break. What a shit-show!
What was once two former lovers in an epic battle of who can murder who first and get away with it has transformed into a synced battle for survival in which they will have to work together as a team in order to overcome the strangers that have taken over their home. Is there still a tiny spark between Lars and Lisa that can ignite the necessary fuse in order to survive, or have they simply given up on each other and themselves, resigned to accept the fate which awaited them not thirty minutes earlier? Marriages are built on teamwork, and these two need to figure out which team they're on........fast.
"The Trip" is at times intense, others violent, but mostly it's a ton of gruesome fun. If you like a lot of laughs to go along with your blood splatter, then look no further; - you've found the perfect relationship for your mind and soul; just make sure to leave the duct tape and hammers at home.
Madness Meter: 7.3/10
NB
