Stars: Melissa George, Michael Dorman, Henry Nixon, Rachael Carpani
Running time: 98 mins
Rating: ★★★

SINGLE mum Jess (Melissa George) isn’t the only one suffering from a case of deja vu in this bloody thriller from Creep and Severance director Christopher Smith. The story has echoes of other seaborne mysteries from Dead Calm to Bermuda Triangle via Groundhog Day. Jess takes a break from looking after her autistic son by going on a yachting trip with friends. She needs a rest as she has terrible dreams, although helpfully told that bad dreams can cure you of real life stress.

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A storm at sea leaves the group atop their capsized boat, only to be saved – at least that’s what they think – when an ocean liner emerges mysteriously through the mist. They board the Aeolus and find it’s like the Mary Celeste, totally deserted.

“I feel I know this place,” says a puzzled Jess. That, and the fact that Aeolus is identified as a chap who made a promise to Death he didn’t keep, should have them manning the lifeboats at once.

Alas, they stick around to find messages scrawled in blood on mirrors and someone in a hood taking potshots at them with a rifle.

Jess is showing all the signs of going round the twist, a view reinforced when, after everyone else has been killed, events begin to happen again.

The chances are you’ll guess the big twist in advance, but Smith manages to retain the interest with bloody killings as the action repeats itself over and over and over again.