Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Celine Held, Logan George
Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Eliza Scanlen, Lauren Ambrose, Eric Lange, Sam Hennings, Diana Hopper
When the vampire thriller
Abigail
was released earlier this year, a lot of horror fans expressed their
annoyance at how the film's marketing had explicitly revealed that it was
a vampire thriller. They claimed that if they believed they were watching
a grounded crime thriller, Abigail's sharp turn into bloody genre territory would have made for a thrilling
surprise. But how many horror fans would have watched
Abigail if they believed it was a crime thriller in which
nobody sprouted fangs? And if the movie had been marketed as a crime
thriller, how many non-horror fans would have been pissed upon realising
they had been duped into watching a vampire movie?
Unceremoniously dumped on VOD, Caddo Lake
has suffered the opposite fate. What little marketing it has received
vaguely suggests it's a rather run of the mill thriller about missing
persons, the sort of movie streaming providers hope might reel in some of
the increasingly large group of true crime obsessives. But much like
Abigail, what starts out as a relatively down to earth thriller suddenly morphs
into something wildly different at a certain point. I can't say what type
of movie Caddo Lake really is, because to even vaguely imply
its sub-genre could give it away. This is highly frustrating, as fans of a
certain type of movie will highly appreciate Caddo Lake. It's one of the best movies of its type in recent years, but the sort
of viewer who will enjoy it the most may well skip past it.
I won't say what type of movie Caddo Lake really is, but I
will reveal it doesn't feature any vampire ballerinas. There are minor
clues in the people involved. It's executive produced by
M. Night Shyamalan and written and directed by
Celine Held and Logan George, who worked on several episodes
of Shyamalan's under-rated TV show Servant. That show's star, Lauren Ambrose, also features in
Caddo Lake's cast.
The title refers to a real area of Texas, which resembles either a series
of rivers or a swamp, depending on the height of the water line at any
given time. The movie follows two young residents of the area who
initially don't seem to share any connection. Paris (Dylan O'Brien)
is struggling to get on with his life after surviving the car crash that
claimed the life of his mother. Doctors claim she suffered a seizure which
caused her to lose control of the wheel and veer off a bridge into the
water below, but Paris refuses to buy this reason. His father (Sam Hennings) and his girlfriend (Diana Hopper) constantly plead with Paris to
move on, but he obsessively harasses doctors while conducting his own
research.
Elsewhere on the lake we find Ellie (Eliza Scanlen), a teenager
who has an abrasive relationship with her mother (Ambrose). Like Paris,
Ellie is affected by the loss of a parent, her father having mysteriously
vanished just before her birth. Ellie blames her mother for driving away
her father, but her mom claims he ran away with another woman. One night
after another argument, Ellie speeds off on the lake on her motorised
skiff and learns the next morning that her eight-year-old stepsister Anna
(Caroline Falk) tried to follow her and hasn't been seen
since.
And that's as much as you're getting from me plotwise. As Ellie searches
for Anna and Paris seeks answers regarding his mother's death, they both
stumble upon the same revelation. What that revelation is...well, you'll
just have to watch the movie, and I recommend you do.
Scanlen and O'Brien are both excellent as two young people haunted by
loss and driven to obsession. Their performances go a long way to
grounding the drama before the big twist takes things in a wildly
different direction. Had that twist not occurred,
Caddo Lake would still function as a compelling look at the
struggles of a working class rural community. Held and George make their
setting and its people seem very real, which makes the second half shunt
all the more impactful. We've gotten to know and care about these
characters by the time they're plunged into...whoops, I almost spilled the
beans there.
As I hinted, fans of a certain sub-genre will be extremely impressed by
Caddo Lake. Along with another American indie from this year (which I can't name
without letting the cat out of the bag), it suggests that there are still
new narratives to be mined from this trope. Held and George's storytelling
is reminiscent of the work of a certain auteur, and it's the sort of movie
you imagine that filmmaker might now be making if they had to work with
much smaller budgets than they're accustomed to. In a couple of years'
time, when enough people have seen Caddo Lake, we'll be referring to it as one of the best recent examples of its
form, so watch it now while its ambiguity remains intact.
Caddo Lake is on UK/ROI VOD now.
