Name: Do Not Disturb
Director: John Ainslie
Released: 2022-08-19T22:06:00

A film I haven’t stopped thinking about since I watched it, is “Do Not Disturb.” This title has the type of narrative that pumps out plot twists to ensure you’ll require a quiet place to calm down after watching. But only if you get past the first half. The storyline places Chloe and Jack in Miami for a chance to reconnect. Their journey to the eventual setting for the film takes far too long. In hindsight though, the same could be said for the experience of taking drugs. Chloe and Jack like drugs.

Do Not Disturb plays out as a dramatic thriller focussing on the dynamic between our main couple. On their first night, they plod their way through a particularly dysfunctional scene involving another couple. As they sit in a diner Chloe talks to another couple at a nearby table. Thinking they’ve found new friends they decide to meet with them later for lunch. Turns out they are swingers. Chloe politely declines but Jack senses an opportunity to partake in free drugs. The two amble their way into the scene with Jack leading the chaos fuelled all-nighter with abandoned stoicism.

Given the pivot Chloe and Jack make the next day, things only get stranger. As they argue, a random man abandons his entire stash in front of them at the beach. He mutters to himself and the newlyweds before walking into the ocean and disappearing. With no reason from here on in to like any of the characters, the duo collect the numerous packets scattered in the sand and head back to their hotel.

“It opens your mind but doesn’t show you how to shut it.”
Quote from disturbed man on beach in Do Not Disturb movie 2023

For another great review of Do Not Disturb read from Waped Perspective.

Do Not Disturb 2022 Psychedelic Horror Film

Next, the loved-up pair try to decide whether to sell or take the drugs. All while completely ignoring the red flags from their trip to the beach. They choose Peyote to reinvigorate their union but get more than they bargained for when one of the swingers turns up dead. The fallout here after creeps up on you. There are some blanks in memory that conceal just how carnally violent things get.

The cinematography is superbly executed. The feeling of a light-drenched room that feels dusty without even being so confines Chloe and Jack in a relentless cycle. Watching Jack instigate their demise time and time again invites a catharsis towards the final climax. Even if it’s hard won.

Unlike relationship-centric titles like “Raw” or “Bones and All”, in “Do Not Distrub” neither person in this situation is trying to save anyone. Nor are they trying to survive. This is a title that takes the cannibal theme, inserts it into a troubled relationship, and shuts the doors. Everything feels like a fight to get out. And that is exactly what this is about.

Do Not Disturb is rated

4 Violent, bloody, and disturbing abuse cycles out of 5

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