The film stars Tommie-Amber Pirie and Sarah Allen as Renee and Valerie, a lesbian couple who book a weekend trip to a cabin in the woods, only to be abducted and tortured by a mysterious figure who livestreams gruesome killings of gay people on the Internet for profit.
[1] The film was directly inspired by a desire to subvert the "bury your gays" and "dead lesbian syndrome" tropes common in horror fiction, by telling a story in which gay and lesbian characters are placed in a conventional horror film scenario but successfully use their wits to survive and fight back.
[2] The cast also includes Rossif Sutherland, Aaron Ashmore, Celina Sinden, Munro Chambers, Chad Connell, Patrick Garrow, Joey Coleman, Gavin Fox and Don Masters.
[2] Chris Knight of Postmedia Network wrote that "The Retreat, with its same-sex protagonists and revenge-fantasy template, might be crudely characterized as a kind of lesbian Get Out, though I guess that title would have to be changed to Get Back In (The Closet).
Especially since stars Sarah Allen and Tommie-Amber Pirie (who play Val and Renee) adhere viewers to them so successfully thanks to their depth and agency.