THE RETREAT is a short LGBT survival horror film with a close plot and an 82-minute runtime. I expected this film to be decent (based on the trailer), but I didn't expect it to be this brutal and good.

Basically, I can only conclude that this film exceeded my wildest expectations. The majority of the time, it builds a fun little world with a badass survival story. There will also be blood, a lot of bodies, and fascinating characters played by fantastic actors.

A different kind of LGBT survival horror movie

If the whole “survival LGBT”-theme sound familiar, it may be because you’ve watched Colin Minihan’s What Keeps You Alive (2018). Also, if you haven’t then you really should. It’s a total guilty pleasure kind of survival horror movie with a brilliantly f*cked-up villain.

As was the case with What Keeps You Alive, this movie avoids all the worst LGBT tropes. Mostly because the characters are more than just their sexuality. However, we do get actors who clearly have no problem kissing someone of the same sex.

Now, you might think this is always a given because two ladies kissing by default is just hot. However, as a gay woman, I can assure you that it’s obvious when the actors are doing “friendly” kissing rather than the steamy ones. Always such a letdown because it ruins the entire illusion of them actually being a couple.

Also, I want to mention that this survival horror movie doesn’t “just” have gay main characters for diversity points. The LGBT element of the story is key to the survival story since the villains are actively seeking out and hunting down gay people.

Several familiar faces

Since The Retreat is a Canadian production, we do get to see quite a few Canadian actors who you’ll probably recognize from other movies or TV series. For me, Aaron Ashmore is certainly a very familiar face. Most recently from the Netflix horror-fantasy series Locke & Key (read our season 1 review here).

Also in a small – but key – role, we see Munro Chambers, who I’ve pretty much adored in everything so far. You’ll recognize him if you’ve watched the 2015 cult movie Turbo Kid. Of the movies we’ve reviewed here on Heaven of Horror, Munro Chambers has been in Knuckleball (2018) and Harpoon (2019) and loved him in both. With The Retreat, he’s become a true favorite of mine!

I wasn’t actually that familiar with the two women in the lead roles even though they have quite impressive IMDb resumes. Tommie-Amber Pirie (Killjoys, Bitten) plays the tough and independent Renee with Sarah Allen (The Expanse, Being Human) playing the happy and understanding (to a point) Valerie. Both are awesome and kick-ass in their own way in this movie!

Watch The Retreat in theaters or On-Demand

Pat Mills is the director of The Retreat and it comes as absolutely no surprise that he has worked on several LGBT movies and series in the past. He knows how to tell these stories the right way. I mean, he even directed a wonderful gay Christmas movie on Lifetime this past holiday season. With this movie, it’s obvious that Pat Mills also has a great take on the horror genre!

The writer is Alyson Richards who has worked with Pat Mills before. In fact, they made a short film together back in 2001, so it’s a pretty solid filmmaker duo. She also produced his award-winning comedy Don’t Talk to Irene (2017). More importantly, in terms of the genre productions we cover, she also co-wrote the screenplay for the horror-mystery The Sublet from 2015.

I did actually have fairly high hopes for The Retreat, and yet, I can only say that this movie was even better than I had ever dared hope. The story is interesting (and far too realistic) with wonderful performances by all the actors. So, my point is simply that you need to check out The Retreat because this movie does everything right. Yes, including the survival horror story!

THE RETREAT is out in theaters, as well as on Digital HD and VOD, from May 21, 2021.