Device Free Weekend

This wild and woolly thriller from Doolittle (Kill Monster) gathers six keyed-up college BFFs for what amounts to a 30th reunion on the private island off Puget Sound owned by social media CEO Ryan Cloverhill, the seventh member of their circle. The first hint of anything wrong for the two married couples and one pair of exes is their host’s stipulation that all devices are to be surrendered on arrival. The second, unmistakable clue, comes when the six guests wake up in Ryan’s luxury compound to find no sign of him, a single blinking touchscreen tablet the only potential means of communication to the outside world, and then suddenly four of them are trapped inside the main building and the remaining two, who had gone outside, hopelessly locked out. They soon discover it’s not a misguided effort by the eccentric mogul to create an escape room experience but something far more dangerous. This circus quickly careens out of the control of its ostensible ringmaster, with results dramatic, deadly, and occasionally funny. Though character takes a back seat to the high-octane action, Doolittle more than compensates with a creatively madcap adventure. Fans of TV’s The White Lotus will find a lot to like. Agent: David Hale Smith, InkWell Management. (Feb.)