Blink Twice almost achieves its murderous goal of dragging the rich and famous into the abyss

Blink Twice. // Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Zoë Kravitz's directorial debut Flash twicewritten together with her High fidelity Employee ET Feigenbaum owes his existence largely to Jordan Peele's Exitand a small thank you goes to Emerald Fennells Promising young woman. As these reference points suggest, Kravitz's twisty social-criticism thriller isn't the lightning-fast vision of its predecessors – it's far from an original premise. But hey, if you're going to steal, you steal from the best.

Aspiring nail technician Frida (Naomi Ackie) works at a catering company with her best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat). The two dream of escaping their paycheck-to-paycheck lives and having fun with the wealthy customers they serve dinner to. Their wish seems to come true when the friends play dress-up at a charity gala hosted by recently rehabilitated millionaire tech bro Slater King (Channing Tatum).

Slater takes a liking to Frida and whisks her and Jess away to his private island with his entourage of famous friends. There, the group indulges in fantastic food, poolside drinks, and drugs (as in “No, seriously, what day is it?”) for who knows how long. Everything is perfect until it suddenly isn't. After a strange incident involving a snake bite, Jess disappears. Frida notices dirt under her fingernails, but can't remember picking it up. A strange woman who works at Slater's estate seems to want to tell her something.

But what could it be?

Where Kravitz is going with this will come as no surprise – this film is about rich men abusing women and finding new, disgusting ways to get away with it. But, as screenwriter April Wolfe likes to say, it's not about what happens, it's about How it happens, that's what makes a film worth watching.

The lengths Kravitz goes to and the way she uncovers the truth about what's happening on the island make for a horrific, slow-burning climax, with each new revelation designed to make you feel a little more sick.

Blink Twice. // Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Kravitz also gives her female characters agency, making their actions and decisions seem real. Frida's determination is on display early on – she has just enough ambition to get drawn into a scenario like this that turns a dream into a nightmare. But she's not stupid either; her detective skills and inability to look away are impressive.

The survival skills of Frida's enemy and later ally Sarah (Adria Arjona) are also impressive. Kravitz cleverly turns Sarah into a former Survivor-like reality show competitor, a background that fits both the environment (Slater's entourage consists of many of B-list celebrity followers) and a source of black comedy that Arjona plays admirably.

Flash twice The set-up takes a little longer than necessary; despite the way Kravitz later puts down her rich and famous characters, she seems to enjoy hanging out with them a little too much to get to her goal.

The film's ending also obscures the film's meaning in a way that some viewers may find fascinating, but others may find unsatisfying (I'm torn on this one).

But as far as first works go, Kravitz has her head in the right place and she and her co-writer have some nasty, ruthless tricks up their sleeves. It's not the preferably version of the story it tells, but it's far from the worst.