There is a dead alligator on the lawn in front of the house. But the wounds suggest neither an animal nor a human cause. Instead, the scaly body was severed so cleanly that one has to wonder what the hell happened here? Especially since the missing girl doesn't seem to have left any traces behind, despite the entire swamp community's relentless search!
After relying on dark black humor with his own directorial work “Trap: No Way Out” this summer, M. Night Shyamalan is now at least producing a mystery thriller like the mastermind behind “The Sixth Sense” or “Unbreakable” awaits: With its mix of atmospheric family drama and twist fireworks that stand up to a closer look, “Caddo Lake“This is already clear from Shyamalan’s early successes.
Strong puzzle, strong characters
In addition to their feature film debut “Topside,” about a homeless mother and her five-year-old daughter fighting for survival on a cold winter night in New York, the married directing duo Logan George and Celine Held have recently also directed several episodes of Shyamalan’s hit series “Servant.” staged.
In “Caddo Lake” the empathetic, precise view from “Topside” and the puzzle construction from “Servant” with its surprising twists and turns now come together in an atmospheric way. Although we would prefer not to even hint at exactly what kind of mystery this is. Ultimately, “Caddo Lake” clearly belongs to the category of film that you will enjoy more the less you know about the plot in advance.
The titular bayou actually exists – and is just as mysterious and winding in reality as the plot of “Caddo Lake”.
Caddo Lake is a bayou on the Texas-Louisiana border. In order to get to their homes or the nearby town, residents of the swamp landscape surrounded by stagnant water can only get around with small motorboats. At the center of the stories are two families in which for a long time it is not clear how exactly their fates are actually connected: Ellie (Eliza Scanlen) has been constantly arguing with her mother Celeste (Lauren Ambrose), since the latter after the sudden disappearance of Ellie's father married a new man. Ellie's younger half-sister Anna (Caroline Falk) is particularly affected by this, as she also disappears without a trace one day. Despite an intensive search throughout the bayous, the eight-year-old girl remains missing.
Paris (Dylan O'Brien), on the other hand, suffers from the consequences of a car accident in which his mother died. She had a mysterious seizure while driving and then fell off a bridge with her son. Paris is firmly convinced that the doctors' conventional medical explanations are nonsense and that there must be something else behind his mother's misfire. Especially since inexplicable things seem to be going on in the bayou anyway. For example, when following footprints in the mud, he hears such a loud, apparently causeless roar that he even briefly loses his hearing. His former childhood sweetheart Cee (Diana Hopper), with whom he has only recently become romantically involved again, fears that Paris, as before, could completely lose itself in the mystery, which may not even be real…
The setting is already half the battle
It makes total sense that the film is named after its setting. If you ever see southern bayous as a central location, it's usually only in crocodile horror films. Logan George and Celine Held would therefore do well to first indulge in the swampy landscape while introducing their characters and their traumas with due care. Especially when the water level drops, much that is hidden underneath seems to come to light.
By the way, the fact that it starts off rather cautiously shouldn't lull you into a false sense of security – because once the central story gimmick is introduced, the pace increases dramatically and then doesn't let up until the finale. As a viewer, you have to be on your guard so as not to miss any of the sudden, rapid twists and turns.
Paris (Dylan O'Brien) is convinced that she is on the trail of a mystery. But his girlfriend Cee (Diana Hopper) remains skeptical.
In its home country, “Caddo Lake” was released directly as a streaming title, which you notice when you watch it because the CGI effects (fortunately very few) (such as a pack of wolves or a car accident) are actually not on screen level. But Warner's own Netflix competitor Max doesn't yet exist in this country – and so Germany is now the only country in the world where “Caddo Lake” is regularly shown in cinemas. And that is definitely a stroke of luck:
Not only does the misty bayou atmosphere come into its own even better on the big screen. The precise plot is also far too complicated to really follow properly if you're also hanging out the laundry and browsing social media on your cell phone. “Caddo Lake” resolves all open questions, but fortunately has no interest in spelling everything out neatly for the audience at the end. You have to think for yourself.
Conclusion: A mystery thriller that will leave you debating for a long time about how exactly the individual pieces of the puzzle fit together – before you come to the astonishing conclusion that it all actually works out perfectly! What's even more exciting than the central mystery is the unique atmosphere with which the directing duo Logan George and Celine Held stage the titular bayou.