M. Night Shyamalan might be listed as a producer on the new Max film Caddo Lake, but his fingerprints are all over the crafting of this suspenseful, surprisingly rich thriller. Set in the eerie waters bordering Louisiana and Texas, the locale infuses an ominous atmosphere around a gripping mystery, haunting visuals, and a stellar ensemble. And yes, this being a Shyamalan effort, there is a twist but it’s in the way filmmakers Celine Held and Logan George expertly use genre to deliver a crime story in an unexpected way.
Written and directed by Held and George, Caddo Lake was inspired by the filmmakers’ many visits after seeing photos of the real lake and the nearby forests. This generational crime thriller is actually about troubled family and the hard-scrabble lives they lead on the swampy Caddo Lake. Dylan O’Brien is excellent as Paris, a young man mourning the death of his mother, while blaming himself for the tragedy. At the same time, he feels that the seizures she suffered from were somehow a factor, even if the rest of the community is dismissive of this idea.
The other major lead role belongs to Eliza Scanlen, whose Ellie is strong-willed and fiercely independent. She can’t wait to leave Caddo Lake and her mother Celeste (Lauren Ambrose) behind to continue the search for her absent biological father. The main thing keeping her around is her stepsister, Anna (Caroline Falk), who looks up to Ellie and wants to be just like her. Due to this, Anna ventures out into the body of water one night and vanishes, launching a search that engulfs Ellie and Paris into an enigma that will unearth long-held family secrets and unexpected revelations about them and the town itself.
Caddo Lake is seen from multiple perspectives, and for a long stretch it resembles a complex portrait of people just trying to survive with the lake as centerpiece of the town. Held and George create an entire mythology and lore around the lake, connecting the people with it through their work, their transportation, and more. That link becomes crucial when the film begins to take more of a turn toward the paranormal, but to give any more away would be spoilery and this is definitely a movie you want to go into clean.
I’m not overstating facts to say that Shyamalan was key to Caddo Lake, and it stretches back to some of his prior efforts. Held and George were directors on his creepy Apple TV+ series Servant, while Ambrose was its star. It’s always good to see Ambrose get a juicy role to bite into and she’s got a real challenge projecting Celeste’s maternal dismay while keeping other aspects of her character hidden. Scanlen is another with a Shyamalan connection, having played a role in his film Old. This is unlike any role Scanlen has played before as the Australian actress puts on a believable accent and zips around the water confidently in a rickety motorboat. O’Brien, who is having a heck of a year between this film and Saturday Night, has progressed so far beyond his Teen Wolf and even his Maze Runner performances. The bulk of the emotional weight is carried by O’Brien and Scanlen, whose characters are weighed down by years of resentment, guilt, and anger. These are tough performances and Caddo Lake wouldn’t be as good with lesser stars.
Caddo Lake‘s biggest hurdle is that it’s tough to keep track of what’s going on. Without giving too much away, there are deep connections between the people of this town and some of the relationships are complicated. The jumpy narrative keeps you always back-footed as to what is going on, and I worry that viewers might give up in the first hour which can be a bit slow. I’m not an advocate for holding the audience’s hand or anything, but the film needed some kind of streamlined storytelling device. That said, once the puzzle pieces start to come together, they do so vigorously and in a way that’s satisfying, leaving ripples in the memory that will last after the credits have rolled. If Held and George continue coming up with inventive ways to tell familiar stories, they’re going to be a formidable duo for a long time.
Caddo Lake streams to Max on October 10th.
