Download Full Movie HD: Blackwater Lane
Director: Jeff Celentano
Writers: Elizabeth Fowler, B.A. Paris
Stars: Minka Kelly, Dermot Mulroney, Maggie Grace
Review: ‘Blackwater Lane’ pulls an intriguing cinematic bait and switch from horror to whodunit
Blackwater Lane is like a classic, Gothic horror. It opens with all the horror elements, but in the last half, the film switches up. There’s a harsh reality check. It becomes a whodunit that questions societal issues with mental illness and classism.
The story is about Cass (played by Minka Kelly) and the home she just bought in the backcountry of her childhood hometown. She is a teacher, married to Matthew (played by Dermot Mulroney) a successful businessman. Their marriage seems solid until Cass starts seeing “ghosts” in their sprawling manse of a home.
Cass is a character that may irritate some people in the audience from the moment she enters the film. She is flighty, oblivious, and seems a bit “off” in some way. It feels like she is being overly cautious about her words and actions or she is generally operating without a thought in her brain. There are a few moments where it would seem appropriate to shake her to see if the woman is awake.
Cass also has terrible friends, one of them, Rachel, played by Maggie Grace. Her character seems to “come alive” after seeing an accident or what was probably the scene of a murder. She didn’t know about the murder at the time, however. After that night, Cass is haunted, she believes, by the ghost of the dead woman. She is hysterical, acting impulsively and sometimes erratically. Her husband is now the oblivious one. He can’t see what is clearly there. Cass’s haunting and the case of the murdered lady begin to merge.
Then, the plot takes a hard twist. The husband, the bestie, and even Cass’s work colleagues start questioning her mental health. This is where the clues start dropping and the horror plot of Blackwater Lane becomes a whodunit--with two mysteries, maybe three.
Blackwater Lane is engaging in its use of horror elements to set up a very convincing story. There is a mossy, lazy pond, surrounded by weeping willows. The house is ages old and although it is maintained, the place still has the rambling build and aging features that suggest something ancient and dark inside.
The film is also shot with several night scenes or dream sequences where shadows move on their own and suggest darker somethings in the corner of your eye. The film strings the audience along until reality breaks through. That’s when the horror story changes lanes to a whodunit story. There’s an ending that’s a bit unexpected for those still reeling from the plot genre switch.
A film that is a bit deeper than expected, Blackwater Lane does offer commentary on the topic of mental abuse and gaslighting. That’s a spoiler, however, and thus a topic for another time.
For now, Blackwater Lane’s cinematic genre switch-up is a technique that deserves further discussion. Once the genre switches, all of the weird, disconnected elements of the opening scenes also begin to make sense. This includes Cass’s airy, oblivious behavior, her detached friendships, and her surface-level marriage.
#Review #Mental Health # Whodunit #Horror #Minka Kelly
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