Seek out “Caddo Lake” and the secrets within. – Elements of Madness

In looking to distract the masses from the fact that their leader, David Zaslav, is a monster, Warner Bros. Pictures (along with its genre subsidiary, New Line Cinema) has been striking lucrative deals with industry titans to strengthen the brand identity away from “The studio that shelved Batgirl and Acme vs. Coyote,” to “The company that has Tom Cruise (Edge of Tomorrow), Margot Robbie (Barbie), and (in this case) M. Night Shyamalan (Trap) in their ranks.” Is it a cheap move? Perhaps, but it’s something that, particularly in Shyamalan’s case, is already resulting in solid art in directorial titles like Trap (2024) and produced titles like The Watchers (2024), and the new Max Original film, Caddo Lake, directed by Celine Held (Dark Matter; Topside) and Logan George (Dark Matter; Topside). For as much shit as Shyamalan gets within the industry for his grave missteps during the years of 2006-2013, I find his newfound renaissance post-The Visit (2015) to have been particularly refreshing. They’re small, efficient, original films, usually confined to single locations, with stacked casts of great character actors, and grand, novel, but oftentimes tragic ideas, that utilize Shyamalan’s distinct writing and directing style most effectively. And it’s even more refreshing to see him use his status as a producer to help similarly-abled filmmakers (whether it be his own daughter or not) get their time in the sun. Caddo Lake represents a type of film that is harder to come by from studios these days and, without the blessings of Shyamalan’s Blinding Edge Pictures banner, may not have even gotten its release on Max. Usually, moves like Warner Bros. releasing straight to their streaming service due to hesitancy on a theatrical release signify a death knell in regards to a film’s quality, but in Caddo Lake’s case, I struggle to see how something like this wouldn’t have found great success on the big screen.

Paris (Dylan O’Brien) and Ellie (Eliza Scanlen) are two strangers living near the swampy shores of Caddo Lake, Texas, dealing with the harsh realities of rural Texas life in their own ways. Paris, a cleanup worker for the lake’s swamps, is still trying to get answers for his mother’s untimely death due to her condition of chronic seizures, which was thought to be treated by medical professionals, and that Paris fears he might soon suffer through genetics. Ellie, the daughter of a single mother (Lauren Ambrose) and whose father abandoned them when she was a baby, struggles with fitting in with her new step-father’s straight-laced family. When Ellie’s step-sister, Anna (Caroline Falk), goes missing on the lake, the search involving the tight-knit community uncovers strange, unexplainable secrets regarding the lake and Anna’s disappearance.

If my description of Caddo Lake sounds incredibly vague, it’s because it is! Not only did Warner Bros. explicitly give us a sheet of “Do Not Reveal” plot points to abide by in reviews, it’s also entirely earned as Caddo Lake works best with little-to-no knowledge of the ensuing film beyond the “child missing, search begins, weird stuff uncovered” logline. While Shyamalan didn’t invent the concept of a plot twist, the influence of his work that Held and George put into the film is apparent at every turn while straying from the possibility of it feeling like a cheap imitation. This, in turn, makes it the type of film best experienced with a crowd as unknowing as you are going in, with the communal realizations of the film’s ultimate mystery hitting you like a ton of bricks all at once. The decision to send the film directly to Max robs audiences of that experience, and, while it’s not a film with a grand enough scale to perhaps fill an IMAX screen, this is a film made with enough love and tactful competency that it genuinely deserved New Line Cinema’s love and care to put it into theaters.

While the film markets star Dylan O’Brien (Love and Monsters) as the film’s lead, which is partially true, due to his name recognition from the likes of The Maze Runner (2014) and Teen Wolf (2011), and is very good in his role, it’s Eliza Scanlen who is the absolute heart of Caddo Lake. Scanlen, channeling the Southern Gothic energy of her previous work in HBO’s Sharp Objects (with more similarities to the Amy Adams (Nightbitch) role than her own this time around) that drives the emotional center of the film, really sells the film’s general twist as it begins to unfold. Once the film became more than just a missing child thriller, I was afraid that the change in direction was losing me, as I found myself particularly invested in a grounded small-town thriller, but as it went on, and the conceit was fully fleshed out, I found myself not only back, but more invested than ever, particularly due to Scanlen’s excellent performance, especially with her wonderfully tense chemistry with Lauren Ambrose (Servant), a chronically underrated actress.

Intimate, human thrillers from major studios are hard to come by these days. It’s even harder to come by these films in theaters when studios would rather just throw them onto their proprietary streaming service to quickly forget about. Perhaps, without having received an email regarding reviewing this film, I would have also quickly forgotten about this film dropping, with little-to-no real marketing, and even less hype, I would have easily passed over this little gem of a thriller for something more mainstream that likely would’ve underwhelmed me instead. Granted, I know calling a film produced at a Warner Bros. studio a “hidden gem” is a little ironic, and doesn’t really fit the bill, but if there’s one thing I miss in this industry, it’s original, standalone, completely original films with new ideas, or at the very least, unique ways to repurpose existing ideas. Caddo Lake, despite almost losing my faith in it, fulfills that in spades with sharp writing, attractive direction, great performances, and an effective musical score from David Baloche (Topside). Knowing as little as possible going in is the absolute way to approach Caddo Lake, and seeing how little Warner Bros. and Max have done to market this film, I can’t imagine that would be very hard to do.

Available on Max October 10th, 2024.

For more information, head to the official Max Caddo Lake webpage.

Final Score: 4 out of 5.

Categories: Films To Watch, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming

Tags: Blinding Edge Pictures, Caddo Lake, Caroline Falk, Celine Held, Diana Hopper, Dylan O’Brien, Eliza Scanlen, Eric Edward Lange, Eric Lange, K Period Media, Lauren Ambrose, Logan George, Max, mystery, New Line Cinema, Sam Hennings, streaming, thriller, Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Pictures