In the horror comedy Get Away, an Anglo-Irish family (Nick Frost, Aisling Bea, Maisie Ayres and Sebastian Croft) go on vacation to Svälta, a place that sounds ideal for horror: a small Swedish island where in the 19th century a supposed pandemic caused a prolonged quarantine, death, famine, and cannibalism.
Despite the classic warnings, the family takes a ferry to Svälta with the idea of attending the upcoming Karantän, a festivity connected to what happened 200 years ago. Once in Svälta, the protagonists meet a terribly hostile commune (led by Anitta Suikkari's character) and their Airbnb host (Eero Milonoff), who soon enough emanates a creepy vibe.
The Nick Frost-penned, Steffen Haars-directed Get Away offers a constant dose of humor, plays with horror tropes, and evokes classics like The Wicker Man – at one point, a detective (Ville Virtanen) visits the island to investigate a double murder. But Get Away ends up taking a different route with a plot twist that mustn't be spoiled.
Get Away is now playing in U.S. theaters, from IFC Films and Shudder. For this reason I was able to interview director Haars and actors Ayres and Croft, who play the children in the family.
ScreenAnarchy: You directed two movies starring Nick Frost this year: KRAZY HOUSE and GET AWAY. How did this come to be?
Steffen Haars: Because of Get Away we got introduced to each other. I got to read the script, which I loved.
There was another script that I’ve already written together with Flip Van der Kuil (Krazy House). We were like “we need to get this to Nick.” He read it and I think halfway through the script he was already like “all right, let’s do this.”
There was just such a great connection, comedy wise. Of course I've been a big fan of Nick from the beginning of his career, so this was perfect. It was fun doing two films with Nick back-to-back.
How was your initial connection with the work of Frost, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright?
Maisie Ayres: As I grew up I watched a lot of Nick’s films. I loved Hot Fuzz. The comedy in it just really is exactly what I like in a comedy film. I definitely was a fan of his work.
Then the idea of getting to be a part of a film that he’s written and he’s starring in, and him to play my dad, felt very surreal. I felt very lucky to be able to get to work on something that’s so well written and also from someone who has done so many things that I’ve loved.
Sebastian Croft: I feel like most people in the UK have grown up with the Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End). Those films are so good, every bit and every moment is just great.
I’m lucky enough to have worked with Nick a couple of times before (Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans, How to Date Billy Walsh). He’s so good at what he does. He also wants the best for you.
The first film we did together, I must have been 15 or 16, and I was really struggling not to laugh. When it was my shots, he’d do a really deadpan version where I could just get my lines out, and then when it was on him he’d be giving everything. Anytime to work with someone like that, who is such a pro and has come from this real set of incredible creators, is just a joy.
GET AWAY was shot in Finland, with Nordic actors.
Haars: The movie plays in Sweden. We had to shoot in a region of Finland. There were lots of lakes, we found all these great parts and small locations that we sort of needed to stitch together to create this whole island.
I was already super happy with the family that we got. We knew that the rest of the cast would be from Finland. I loved seeing all these, for me, fresh faces, because I haven’t seen too many Finnish films. It’s great to just get blown away by actors when casting. It was a great experience shooting in Finland.
Ayres: I had never been to Finland before. It was just so beautiful. Shooting on location was so cool because we had such amazing natural things around us, the forests and the lakes. One of the best days was the day that we shot on the ferry on the lake, with the light on the water, I just remember being blown away by it.
Eero (Milonoff) was so amazing. I got to do quite a lot of scenes with him and it was just so fun because he brought such amazing energy.
Croft: You also bond a lot when you’re on location, because we didn’t have any of our friends, family or normal networks, and so in the evenings or at the weekends you end up hanging out and spending time with each other. All those small moments of connection really add a lot to a film, whereas when I film in London it almost feels like clocking in and clocking out.
GET AWAY and other folk horror movies deal with the clash between different cultures, old traditions and modernity.
Haars: Get Away is in a way about not feeling welcomed. I think that’s a feeling that everyone has had in life. This movie is a big fuck you to all the people who don’t make you feel welcomed somewhere.
Ayres: The horror element of that kind of feeling, of being isolated somewhere, was really fun to play with. This genre leads into heightening your worst fears about that kind of situation.
GET AWAY has humor, horror, and very violent stuff. But what would you say is the essence of it?
Haars: In this world that we live in, it is nice to forget about your surroundings and everything that’s happening in politics, and just see a fucking goddamn fun movie. This is a movie that you can have lots of fun with. It’s funny, terrifying, and awkward.
Croft: The film was a lot of fun to make because of how far Nick and Steffen took it, both in terms of what’s in the script but also just the way that it was shot.
I love nothing more than when you sit down and you watch a great story unfold in a really extreme way, and it surprises you and also makes you laugh and feel things.
Ayres: As soon as you think you know what’s going on, it diverts. It has this quite absurd feeling at times, like “what is happening?” I always love watching films where as soon as I think I understand what’s going on, or understand the tone or the vibe, it shifts. I think that is what this film does, thanks to the great direction and writing.