A billionaire invites a young woman and her friend to join him and his friends on an island vacation where unsettling things happen. A film by Zoë Kravitz, starring Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat.

Nail artist Frida (Naomi Ackie) and her roommate Jess (Alia Shawkat) work as waitresses at the King-Tech gala, the most important event of the year. Upon their arrival, the manager (Aaron Himelstein) informs Frida that she is late. He also comments on her behavior from last year, saying she talked too much and needs to be a bit more invisible this time. Jess tries to defend her, pointing out that it was billionaire Slater King who initiated the conversation and complimented her nail art.

In the storage room, Frida asks Jess where she went after sneaking out of their apartment at 3 a.m. When Jess deflects the question, Frida deduces that she must have gone to see her toxic ex-boyfriend. Frida becomes infuriated, struggling to understand why Jess would return to such a harmful relationship. At the same time, Frida finds herself drawn to Slater King (Channing Tatum), a tech mogul and self-made billionaire who recently stepped down as CEO of King-Tech after facing allegations of abuse. Following his resignation, Slater bought an island and started the King-Tech Foundation.

Frida and Jess change into the evening gowns that Frida prepared and crash King-Tech’s afterparty uninvited, pretending to be guests. As Frida tries to get closer to Slater, hoping he will notice her like he did last year, her heel breaks, causing her to stumble to the floor. Slater reaches out his hand to help her up.

Everything goes better than she had planned; Slater introduces Frida and Jess to therapist Rich (Kyle MacLachlan), his security guard Stan (Cris Costa), and his inner circle of friends: Cody (Simon Rex), Vic (Christian Slater), Heather (Trew Mullen), Camilla (Liz Caribel), Tom (Haley Joel Osment), Lucas (Levon Hawke), Sarah (Adria Arjona), and his assistant Stace (Geena Davis). Later, he invites them both to his private island.

Frida and Jess are initially thrilled to travel to the island on Slater’s private jet. However, upon arriving at the estate, Jess becomes cautious when Stace confiscates their phones. Slater then takes Frida to her room. Later, Frida encounters a old maid (María Elena Olivares) who doesn’t speak English. The maid seems to recognize Frida and calls her “Red Rabbit,” but Frida has no idea what she means.

Frida and Jess are living the best days of their lives, doing nothing but swimming in the pool, enjoying an endless flow of cocktails and champagne, indulging in fine dining every evening, and experimenting with potent hallucinogenic drugs. However, Frida begins to feel that something odd is happening to her. For instance, a stain on her white dress mysteriously disappears, and she notices dirt under her fingernails with no recollection of how it got there.

One night, Jess is bitten by a venomous snake. However, Slater insists that it’s not life-threatening and there’s no need to worry. The next day, Frida accidentally drinks a green, venomous liquid, mistaking it for an alcoholic drink. Later, she asks the other girls if anyone knows where Jess is. To her shock, nobody remembers Jess.

Frida rushes back to Jess’s room, which is next to hers, only to discover that it’s actually a storage room. She begins to question her sanity, wondering if she is trapped in a nightmare from which she can’t wake up. Did Jess really come with her, or had she merely imagined her presence?

Directed by American actress Zoë Kravitz in her directorial debut from a screenplay she co-wrote with E.T. Feigenbaum, BLINK TWICE is a thriller that centers around the themes of sexual violence, power dynamics, and the complex experiences of sexual abuse survivors.

The filmmaker does a good job of keeping things ambiguous and toying with our expectations as the story slowly unfolds the dark secrets hidden on the island. We can’t help but wonder and engage with the screen, looking for clues that would shed some light on the matter.

The pacing in the first 50 minutes feels slow and somewhat repetitive, as not much significant happens during this time. A few scenes do stand out, like the creepy old maid who repeatedly says “Red Rabbit” whenever she sees the protagonist Frida, and the moment when Jess gets bitten by a snake. The film would really benefit from some editing to trim this section by at least 20 minutes without losing any essential information.

There’s also a funny scene early on where Frida scolds her roommate Jess for repeatedly going back to her toxic boyfriend, insisting that Jess should have more self-respect. Ironically, Frida is also drawn to power and wealth, despite knowing that the man she’s interested in is an abuser.

The last 30 minutes of the film are quite impressive, providing the satisfying conclusion we’ve been waiting for. While the twist isn’t entirely unexpected, the script feels unconvincing and unrealistic. How is it possible that a billionaire tech mogul who has bought an entire island and built an expansive estate — almost like a luxurious resort — only hires one bodyguard, without any additional security or technology to ensure his safety if something goes wrong? It’s just perplexing.

The effects of the perfume are also inconsistent and unclear. The film never explicitly explains how it works, only vaguely stating that it can erase people’s memories. But then, how does the snake’s venom reverse the perfume’s effects? Why can everyone still remember each other’s names but selectively forget Jess? And how far back does it actually suppress memories?

And what’s up with Jess’s yellow lighter? How is it possible that there is only one lighter on the entire island?

BLINK TWICE premiered at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles on 8 August 2024. It was theatrically released in the United States on 23 August.