Sweetheart Deal

Speaking of monsters, here's one from streaming that we've been meaning to get to: Sweetheart (2019).

It starts with Keirsey Clemons, a young black woman, washing up on the white coral sands of a deserted island. Someone else washes up next to her, but dies after saying, "Did you see it?" She walks down the beach until she gets back to where she started - so she knows it's an island. She explores a little and finds indications that others have been there. Mainly, their graves. She buries her friend by the beach. In the morning, she finds that the corpse has been dug up and dragged into the water. She now knows that she isn't alone on the island.

At night, she spies the monster, the large humanoid silhouette of a sea monster. She spends the next few days trying to get a better look, and trying to keep herself safe from it. This is probably the best part of the movie. There is no dialog, because she is alone. So Clemons has to use acting to show you who her character is. She's strong and brave, but maybe not as survival-savvy as she could be. She has ~5 matches, and she doesn't build a fire and keep it going all day to preserve them. But even though she's afraid of the monster, she sets out to learn about it and to figure out how to kill it.

Then a survival raft washes up. Her boyfriend and the girlfriend of the dead guy are inside, wiped out. They are pretty glad to be on the island, with food and water available, and away from the sea. They are traumatized by their time on the sea, and dismiss Clemons when she tells them about the monster. Her boyfriend is pretty condescending, bringing up her past as an exaggerator and time in therapy. When the girl gets eaten, he changes his tune fast.

The introduction of the other survivors is almost too bad. The one woman, one monster showdown was brilliant. It's possible that the second part was the original idea, bringing class (Clemons' boyfriend was paying her rent, and tried to use that as leverage - on a deserted island) and race (only Clemons is black). Then in the writing or production, they discovered the first part. There is even a hint that the two on the survival raft may have killed one of the survivors - but it isn't explored. It's just one more thing that makes these guys repulsive. 

Since this is Blumhouse, the monster is a bit cheesy - they keep it in the dark mostly, but we get to see a little too much of it. I wonder if they used CGI to get that "guy in a rubber suit" look. It was directed by JD Dillard, who also directed Sleight, We like his stuff so far.