Zoë Kravitz makes her feature film directorial debut with “Blink Twice”, a movie built upon a few interesting ideas but without enough original ones of its own. What is intended to be a firm statement of gender dynamics and empowerment ends up being a hollow and borderline exploitative exercise that’s nowhere near the clever and insightful social satire it aims to be. That’s a shame because Kravitz clearly knows how to handle a camera.

“Blink Twice” stars Kravitz’s fiancée Channing Tatum. He plays a disgraced billionaire tech mogul named Slater King who just recently stepped down as CEO of his company King-Tech following some unspecified inappropriate conduct. Since then, Slater has made numerous public apologies, sought therapy, and bought his own island where he can retreat and reflect. Yea, right.

Frida (Naomi Ackie) is a designer nail artist and part-time waitress who happens to be working tables at a charity event sponsored by Slater King. She and her best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) smuggle in two cocktail dresses and sneak into the gala as guests. While there, Frida bumps into to the hunky Slater and the two hit it off. It prompts Slater to invite Frida and Jess to join him and his privileged friends on a getaway to his private island. Of course they agree and soon are whisked away on a King-Tech private jet.

One scene later and we’re at Slater’s palatial island estate where Frida and Jess are joined by his pals Vic (Christian Slater), Cody (Simon Rex), Tom (Haley Joel Osment) and Lucas (Levon Hawke) along with three other female guests, Sarah (Adria Arjona), Camilla (Liz Caribel), and Heather (Trew Mullen). It’s a dream vacation, but we realize it’s too good to be true (something that should have been obvious to our protagonists the second Geena Davis pops up to collect everyone’s cell phones).

From there, measuring time is impossible as Kravitz moves us through one day of alcohol and drug-driven revelry after another. Meanwhile her story (which she co-wrote with E.T. Feigenbaum) has a hard time nailing down its tone. The movie seems to have as much fun filming the hard-partying scenes as the characters do partaking. There are sudden bursts of comedy and we get several head-bobbing needle drops. But it also wants us to feel uneasy, especially once Frida starts noticing strange things that she can’t quite figure out.

But the movie comes completely unglued in its third act, losing every shred of nuance and devolving into an uber-bloody girl-boss phantasmagoria. That may sound like a fun, go-for-the-jugular finish and it could have been if not for the heavy-handed messaging, some laughably on-the-nose dialogue, and the simple fact that none of the film’s shallow one-dimensional characters earn our investment. Not to mention it adds yet another shift in tone that further distracts from the movie’s thematic intentions.

“Blink Twice” sets itself up nicely, teasing us with a story that mixes Hitchcockian suspense with a little Shyamalan wackiness. But as is often the case, the issues are in the execution. The suspense never reaches a simmer and the wackiness almost feels unintentional. To Kravitz’s credit the film looks great which testifies to her sharp instincts with the camera. But so much remains underdeveloped that the message loses its power, no matter how hard we’re hit over the head with it. “Blink Twice” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

“The Beast Within” opens with a line from an old proverb, “There are two wolves inside all of us … they are always at war.” The Two Wolves legend has often been attributed to a Cherokee elder speaking to his grandson. It’s essentially a metaphor for the inner conflict where the two wolves represent doing good and doing evil. When asked which wolf would win, the elder responded, “The one you feed.”

That proverb emphasizes a compelling struggle that “The Beast Within” attempts to explore through the guise of an old-fashioned werewolf movie. But at its heart, this patient and measured horror thriller has human interests that stretch well beyond genre. Father-daughter relationships, loss of innocence, and generational trauma are just some of the thematic through-lines that become easier to spot as the story unfolds.

Director Alexander J. Farrell, who wrote the script alongside Greer Ellison, seems to do a lot with a little. I’m guessing some choices were made with budget constraints in mind. Other choices simply show good instincts. The small cast and fairly limited setting certainly help with cost. But they’re also fitting for this particular story. And we don’t see much in terms of creature effects because Farrell keeps his lycan offscreen for the vast majority of the movie. It may seem like a shortcut, but it effectively works in the story’s best interest.

Set mostly in and around a remote country manor, the bulk of the story is told through the perspective of a young girl named Willow (played by the talented Caoilinn Springall – also great in this year’s “Stopmotion”). Willow has an unexplained respiratory disorder that forces her to use oxygen whenever she gets anxious. And that’s often in their troubled household. Her mother, Imogen (Ashleigh Cummings) tries her best to shield her daughter from a dark family secret. But the more the curious and observant Willow secretly probes, the closer she gets to a painful truth.

While Willow has a close bond with her mother and grandfather Waylon (James Cosmo), her relationship with her father Noah (Kit Harington) is more complicated. She both adores and fears him – conflicting feelings stemming from Noah’s unpredictable manner which vacillates between loving and seething. But no one wants to talk about the real issue, preferring to keep Willow in the dark despite her father’s growing volatility, especially during a full moon.

Noah lingers on the periphery for much of the film, adding an uneasy presence that Farrell takes advantage of on multiple occasions. It allows us to hone in on the characters and the intricacies of their relationships which is ultimately what the movie is most interested in. But it also adds a thick layer of tension than only intensifies as the inevitable revelations come to light. Harington ably embodies each of the “two wolves” while young Springall does a good job earning our empathy.

By the end, the story’s allegory may be a bit on-the-nose, but it’s plenty impactful. Farrell adds some subtle twists and the mystery is made more effective by his ability to plant questions in our minds. Meanwhile cinematographer Daniel Katz cements the tone with his clever framing, moody interiors, and beautiful yet ominous drone shots of the countryside. It’s crucial to connecting us to this slow-paced yet savvy family story that both demands and rewards our patience. “The Beast Within” is now available on VOD.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS