In Aussie psychological thriller* The 13th Summer, we’re introduced to Ben Trainor, a former cop now disgraced due to a violent incident which, initially, remains mysterious to the viewer, and his girlfriend Hannah. They intend to spend a relaxing Summer away from the media circus that Ben’s life has become at a cabin owned by two friends of theirs. But when was the last time you saw anyone, in any film, spend their Summer in a cabin and actually end up having a good time?
On this occasion, trouble comes – as it often does – in the form of a Brit, backpacker Alex, who swears that he’s got the permission of Ben and Hannah’s friends to be there. Though this could all be sorted out with a simple phone call, Ben instead grows increasingly suspicious of this interloper, much in the fashion of The Guest or, better yet, Australian classic Dead Calm. Of course, two men in an enclosed space with an attractive woman is inevitably going to descend into a dick-measuring contest, doubly so when there are Australians involved. In this case, for whatever reason, the dick-measuring revolves mainly around various hobbies: painting, writing, fishing, shooting, cooking and photography. When he’s not trying to one-up Ben, Alex spends the rest of his time making just-barely plausibly-deniable flirts towards Hannah, broaching inappropriate topics, and just generally acting like the weirdo at a family get-together. We the viewer can see that it’s all going to come violently to a head, and it does – sooner than expected, a nice touch that catches the audience off-guard.
The second half of the film thus has the viewer more or less on the backfoot and, for once, uncertain for whom they should actually be rooting. It’s all effective stuff, the ambiguity behind the likeable, yet clearly troubled and violently temperamental Ben given forceful life in a performance by Nathan Phillips, whose shaven head gives him a vague resemblance to later-season Walter White and who shines even through the low budget which is put so apparently on screen.
*The marketing suggests a horror, but that sort of misdirection really does this fine thriller a disservice.