An Average Movie-Goer’s Review
Spoilers! If you don’t want spoilers – check out the Spoiler-Free post
I love horror movies and if I’m going to watch them anyway, why not write an entertaining/funny review from the POV of an average movie-goer and not a professional critic.
Today we’re looking at Netflix’s 2021 film The Block Island Sound
When Audry (Michaela McManus) is sent to her home town at Block Island to investigate tons of fish washed up on shore, she learns her family may be connected to the mystery.
Is it Scary?
The Block Island Sound has some creepy moments and a few startling shots but there’s nothing really too shocking or disturbing. It also avoids jump scares for the most part which feels like a missed opportunity is some scenes. The film chooses to stay along the science-fiction mystery line and not thread too much into horror.
Overall you won’t find The Block Island Sound scary unless you’re planning on going on a fishing trip to the middle of nowhere despite finding a bunch of dead fish on the shore.
Detailed Plot:
The movie opens with a black screen as we hear some guttural growls. We cut to a man, Tom (played by Neville Archambault) waking up on a small boat in the middle of the ocean near Block Island, Rhode Island. Pulling on a rope tied to his boat, he finds the other end in the water attached to an empty collar. Did this dude drown a dog?
As we pan away from the boat, we get the title screen. In a diner we see three friends debating a conspiracy theory regarding a parasite that causes toxoplasmosis in cats.
Our main character Harry (sitting on the left and played by Chris Sheffield) doesn’t believe toxoplasmosis exists but he’s wrong. It’s never a good day when you have to agree with a conspiracy theorist since you know they’re about to hit you with a wildly exaggerated claim in a moment. Predictably the conspiracy theorist Dale (played by Jim Cummings) says the parasite infects humans in order to make them slaves for cats.
Harry calls his friends fucking crazy (he’s not wrong) and leaves, which Dale assumes means he’s giving him a ride home. The other friend is Gerry (played by PJ McCabe) but he doesn’t do much in the scene so I’ve ignored him… much like his friends.
On the drive home, as Dale spouts more conspiracy theories including one about a sea creature, a bird crashes into the windshield. Arriving at home, Harry calls out to his dad and finds him outside staring at a barking dog in a trance-like state.
Guess who it is, that’s right, possible dog murderer Tom from earlier. I don’t think Harry hears it but we hear the same guttural growling until Harry snaps Tom out of his trance.
The following day we meet our other main character, Audry (played by Michaela McManus) who works for the Environmental Protection Agency and is being assigned to investigate a situation on Block Island with her subordinate Paul (played by Ryan O’Flanagan).
Since it’s a last-minute assignment, Audry has no choice but to take her daughter Emily (played by Matilda Lawler) with her. We also learn Audry is Harry’s sister so you think it’s going to be a nice family reunion until Emily refers to Harry as an asshole. Audry explains to Paul that Harry isn’t actually an asshole he just developed a short temper after the death of their mother years ago.
Meanwhile, at the house, Harry wakes up to find Tom missing along with the fishing boat. Assuming Tom slept-walked his way into a fishing trip, Harry attempts to call him on the radio. Tom eventually returns but is coy about if he was sleepwalking. Can people go on a fishing trip while sleepwalking the entire time? I don’t think science has proven otherwise so let’s just go with it.
After arriving on the island, Audry and Paul are brought to the beach where the police chief tells them about a recent fish problem where “9 or 10” have washed up on shore. Paul assumes it’s just 9 or 10 fish which is a stupid-ass assumption when you work for the EPA and you’ve been sent to investigate an emergency. The chief then clarifies that it’s 9 or 10 tons.
Later that night Tom invites Audry, Emily, and Paul for dinner at his home along with Harry. Things get a bit awkward when Tom insinuates Paul and Audry are dating.
A short time later while Audry drives Paul to the ferry, Harry and Emily spot some dead fish floating by the fishing boat. In the house, Tom goes back into his trance-like state including the guttural growls, and stares out of the window at Emily. Audry arrives back at the house and snaps Tom out of the trance which he plays off.
Audry asks Harry if there’s something wrong with their dad but Harry says nothing is wrong completely neglecting to tell her about his disappearing act. Later as Audry tucks Emily into bed which is on the couch, she finds the frog she and Harry caught. Audry questions why she took the frog from its family and Emily says Audry does the same for her job when she takes fish.
Audry explains that even though some fish die when they study them, most live and the point is to study a few in order to help the rest. Emily is too young to point out how evolutionarily speaking the fish should be teaching us since they’ve been on Earth longer so she just accepts the answer.
As everyone sleeps with see a quick shot of the beach where another ton of fish has washed up on shore. In the house, the digital clocks start glitching out as we hear the guttural growls again. In the living room Tom, in a trance, watches a sleeping Emily.
We cut to Audry sleeping in her room who is woken up by Emily’s screams. Hold up, why does Audry get a room while her daughter has to sleep on the couch? Earlier Tom offered Audry and Paul the queen-size bed when he thought they were a couple so why wouldn’t Audry and Emily take the bed? I know this is a weird thing to pick on but as a child, I slept on a lot of couches and that shit sucks.
Anyway, Audry runs out to the living room and finds Tom standing over Emily who is on the floor. Tom, no longer in a trance, clearly has no idea what happened and assumes Emily had a nightmare that caused her to fall out of the couch. Emily doesn’t say what happened and Harry still neglects to point out that Tom has a sleepwalking problem.
Later Audry and Harry argue about what’s going on with Tom and Harry still refuses to admit there’s a problem. Audry decides to take the ferry back to the mainland in the morning and leave Emily there for safety. The following day Audry and Harry discover Tom is missing once again and Emily says she saw him leave in the middle of the night.
Executing a search, Audry and Harry find the boat in the middle of the ocean completely ransacked and Tom gone. After talking to the police, Harry is furious they’re not doing more to look for Tom as he assumes someone must have attacked him out at sea. Meanwhile, Audry and the police believe Tom got drunk went out to sea, and fell off the boat.
A couple of days later Paul tells Audry that Harry borrowed some diving equipment to search for Tom. We then see Harry driving the boat to the same spot where Tom disappeared as the radio starts to glitch out. Harry dives into the water and we hear the guttural growls start back up. A black smoke then appears behind him and engulfs Harry.
That night Harry wakes up in the boat with everything looking like it was thrown around including random fish.
Back at home, Harry uses eye drops to cover up his reddened eyes which appear to burn him. Audry walks in and tells him their sister, Jen, will be coming to help put their dad’s affairs in order since they assume he’s dead. There’s clearly some animosity between Jen and Harry as he points out Jen hasn’t spoken to their dad in 2 years.
We cut to the police arriving at the beach where they’ve found Tom’s dad’s body washed up on shore. At the morgue, Harry and Audry identify Tom’s body but Harry refuses to believe the bruising on his body was done by rocks in the ocean.
Later Harry is at the diner from the start of the movie drinking alone when Gerry sees him and loudly announces from another booth “it’s really fuck up what happened to your dad.” He then calls Dale over despite Harry telling him not to. Umm, what the fuck Gerry?
Dales tells Harry about multiple instances of dead birds dropping out of the sky around the world happening around the same time as fish washing up on shore. He then reveals there was a flock of dead birds found on Block Island but it was never reported since he believes the government is behind it all, including Tom’s death.
At home, Harry goes all conspiracy theorist and searches all the instances of dead birds and fish. After plotting them all on a map he begins to cough and runs to the bathroom where he vomits some weird shit into the sink.
Looking up at the mirror Harry sees Tom staring back at him and we cut to Harry waking up the following morning in a panic. Vomiting up the worms appears to have been a dream as when Harry walks past his map, we don’t see the instances of the bird/fish deaths plotted onto it.
Though the dirt on his pillow tells us that Harry did make a trip outside during the night. Apparently, it’s not a problem since he simply cleans it up and doesn’t question it. Meanwhile, Jen has arrived and we next see the family at Tom’s funeral. While there, Harry hears growling, starts to go into a trance, and sees Tom standing at the doorway.
Excusing himself he goes outside where Dale shows up to make things worse by pointing out the mortician told him Tom basically looked like shit. I don’t know who looks amazing after several days dead out at sea but you don’t need to say it out loud.
Harry heads to the supermarket to pick up the food for the wake, goes into another trance, and sees his dad standing behind the deli counter.
While still in a trance, Harry packs up as much food as possible from all the aisles and heads outside while a store clerk chases him for not paying. The two play tug of war with the shopping cart causing it to tip over which wakes Harry up from his trance. Instead of helping pick it all up or giving some sort of explanation, Harry apologizes and drives off.
At the wake, which is also at a bar, Jen is angered that Harry has returned without food while Harry heads to the bar to take an Advil and drink a shot. While he fucks up his liver, he overhears some douchebag tell someone that he thinks Harry killed Tom for the house.
Harry confronts him and the guy not only doesn’t back down, but he also doubles down on the accusation leading Harry to lunge at him. Unfortunately, Harry is held back and doesn’t get to beat the shit out of the old dickbag but he accidentally elbows another guy in the face.
We cut to Harry in a jail cell when the police chief enters and tells him he talked the dickbag out of pressing charges. Meanwhile, the other cop, searches Harry’s jacket and finds Dale’s cigarette in it but assumes it’s Harry. The cop couldn’t search Harry’s jacket literally anywhere else besides directly in front of him?
Audry arrives to pick up Harry and he finally decides not to hide something by telling her that the dickbag accused him of killing Tom. Does he tell her about the weird trances, the dirt on his pillow, seeing their dad randomly in places? Nah, don’t be silly the movie still has at least another hour to go.
That night we see Emily sleeping on the couch to remind us that she still exists in this movie. Harry, in a trance, walks past her and starts emptying out the refrigerator; making a mess. We then cut to him waking up on the boat in the middle of the ocean the following morning. Is this going to be like a Cthulhu thing calling them out to the sea?
Returning back to the house, Jen and him argue over the huge mess he left the night before. Since Harry is in a trance he denies it was him and Jen accuses him of drunkenly making the mess. Later Audry, Paul, and Jen stumble upon a flock of dead birds along the beach… dun dunn dunnn!
That night Harry drops Jen off at the ferry and apologizes for his actions. On his way back home he’s stopped by a deer standing in the middle of the road. Despite honking his horn, the deer doesn’t move and Harry goes into a trance. Looking over to the passenger seat, he sees Tom who starts growling ‘“deer” over and over.
Harry rams the deer and we cut to him on the boat with the dead deer. The next day after a visit from the cops who accuse Harry of drunk driving, Harry finally tells Audry that Tom was going into trances. He then tells her the same thing is happening to him and that he’s scared.
Audry takes Harry to the doctor where they run a few tests and he has a panic attack in the MRI machine. The doctor suggests that Harry is possibly getting headaches from a rare condition known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity and tells him about a friend of hers, Kurt, who had the same condition.
Audry asks the doctor for Kurt’s phone number but she tells her that Kurt got rid of all his electronics including his phone. Instead, she gives Audry his address to send him a letter. In the meantime, she tells Harry not to drink anymore and gives him a prescription for something to help his anxiety.
Cut to Harry buying a 6-pack at a store.
Harry spots a newspaper with a front-page headline revealing the flock of birds found dead on the beach and heads towards the spot. There, Harry finds Dale who gives him a bunch of paperwork and books on paranormal activity that the government supposedly redacted and removed from the internet. Though he takes it, Harry dismisses all of it like there isn’t some weird shit going on.
That night Harry has a nightmare where he sees his dad’s body on the beach. Approaching it, he asks what he wants and Tom growls “dog” over and over.
Harry wakes up and hears the neighbors dog barking outside like a lunatic but also hears his dad’s voice calling out for the dog. Angered, Harry unplugs all his electronics and throws them outside near the dog who by the way is still barking like crazy.
Turning to go back inside, Tom appears at the steps and once again tells Harry, “dog”. Harry slips into a trance and stares at the dog.
We cut to Harry on the boat driving out to the spot where Tom went missing and we pan over to see the dog tied up in the back. Does Cthulu like the taste of dogs or something? Arriving at the spot, the radio starts glitching and the boat starts to shake.
Things are suddenly pulled up into the air including Harry. It’s important to note that Cthulu does not live in the sky and that means it’s fucking aliens! Or sky Cthulu… Nah it’s aliens. Is this my first alien movie review? Besides Prey, I guess. I can’t even make the tag ‘Aliens’ since that would be a spoiler.
Moments later everything that was pulled up is dropped back onto the ocean and the boat including Harry. It looks like the aliens are just throwing everything down without care so I’m not sure how; one, they are certain Harry will survive the fall, and two, they are able to get Harry to land directly onto the boat.
The next morning Harry wakes up on the boat and, after vomiting, finds the dog’s collar on the boat. Arriving back at the house, Audry confronts Harry after she finds all the electronics outside. She basically asks him “what the fuck?” and tells him the neighbor’s dog is missing. Seeing the scratches on his arm she assumes he did something but Harry says he doesn’t remember.
A little bit later Audry leaves Paul to watch Harry and Emily as she heads to the ferry to go visit Kurt in order to get some answers. At a trailer in the middle of nowhere Audry meets with a pretty aggressive Kurt who makes her remove her watch and cellphone.
Kurt denies he has electromagnetic hypersensitivity and gets real serious when Audry describes Harry’s symptoms. He tells her ‘they’ are using Harry as a vessel to bring them stuff and causing him to hallucinate. First, they start small with food, then they move to small animals, and then people. Audry asks who are ‘they’ and Kurt points up and says ‘them’. Dude, just say aliens.
Meanwhile, at the house, Paul is trying to put on a DVD for the three to watch but is having trouble. This is why you gotta go streaming, who even has DVDs anymore, it’s not even a Blu-ray. Harry tries to excuse himself as he starts to hear growling but Emily begs him to stay and watch the movie.
Tom appears by the hall and starts repeating “girl”. Harry tries to fight the urge to fall into a trance while Tom continues to insist on the girl.
Before he could do anything to Emily, Harry runs out of the house and drives off. Meanwhile, Kurt has lost all composure and tells Audry that he was once forced to bring a homeless woman to the aliens. Frightened, Audry leaves while Kurt continues yelling about the aliens.
While driving, Harry sees a woman jogging and hears Tom continuously yelling “girl”. Attempting to fight the urge Harry crashes the car and loses consciousness. The jogger runs to the car and tries to help Harry but he wakes up, now in a trance, and tries to grab her causing her to run off.
A short time later, Harry returns to the house and grabs Emily. Audry arrives moments later, sees a knocked out Paul, and hears Emily’s screams coming from behind the house. Rushing over she jumps onto the boat just as Harry takes off with Emily who runs into the cabin.
The boat arrives to where the aliens have been taking things from Harry and Audry runs down to the cabin locking the door behind her. Harry tries to break the door open but stops when he hears growling letting him know the aliens have arrived. The boat starts to shake and things are launched into the air.
Harry is pulled up into the sky as Emily and Audry are pulled up but since they’re in the cabin, they only hit the ceiling. Emily wraps herself up in rope as the cabin doors fling open and Audry struggles not to be pulled up. Grabbing onto a light cord, she’s momentarily able to hold on but the cord snaps and away she goes.
As soon as Audry is pulled up into the sky, all the items fall back to the ground except Audry and Harry. The next day, Paul leads a search group and they find Emily alone on the boat hiding in the cabin.
An unknown amount of time later, we see scenes of fish swimming in the ocean as we hear a voiceover of Audry repeating the speech she gave Emily earlier about her job. The film ends as a still alive Audry is dropped into the ocean.
What Happened in the End?
Audry’s speech to Emily was about her job wherein she takes fish out of the water and studies them. Some fish die or are killed while they are being studied while others live and are placed back into the ocean.
The justification for the deaths of the fish is that what the EPA is able to learn from their studies can be used to help the fish population as a whole. Since this speech is repeated at the end the movie is telling us that the aliens are doing the exact same thing. We, humans, are the fish and the aliens are abducting us to study us to eventually help us in the future.
It’s not clear in the end what happened to Harry as he was not seen dropped into the ocean. It’s also not clear if Audry has now become the vessel for the aliens or if she was experimented on like Kurt implied would happen.
Review:
The Block Island Sound is good and does a great job at keeping up the mystery of what is going on for the entire run-time.
It’s well-acted, specifically one scene that I thought was a great performance by Chris Sheffield is when his character finally tells Audry what he’s been experiencing. The dialogue works for the entire run time though Kurt’s dialogue and his acting felt a bit hammy but I get it, he’s been isolated for so long.
The story is where I have a few minor issues. The movie tries really hard (and is effective) at making you believe the characters are dealing with a monster from the sea. But once the reveal happens you have to question some of the prior red-herrings.
For example, why did Harry see a plume of what looked like black smoke in the sea before he lost consciousness? How are the aliens able to drop Tom and Harry back onto the boat safely for the most part? Why do the aliens restart their process of studying things when Harry become their vessel? With Tom they were already up to the ‘studying girl’ part of their study but for Harry they started back with the ‘what humans eat part”.
The other small issue with the movie is the character of Jen, there’s really no point to her at all and she feels like a filler character. She doesn’t add or take away from the movie in anyway. She’s in the film for about 10 minutes in total in the middle and then is never seen or mentioned again. Sure, this makes sense in a real life scenario but in a movie, why waste time? You could remove all of her scenes from the movie and it would barely make a difference.
Like I said, these are small issues with the story, in no way does it ruin anything. The CGI when the aliens take Harry and Audry is a bit iffy but ehh it’s only for a moment and not a big deal. Overall I recommend watching The Block Island Sound especially if you’re looking for a not-terribly-scary science-fiction mystery.
Cast IMDB
Stuff to Ignore
Metacritic – No Page Yet