The Reel Review
A swamp-filled lake along the Louisiana/Texas border is immersed in mystery when an eight-year-old girl vanishes there without a trace. As the saga unfolds, a link to another missing person case is revealed. Dylan O’Brien (Love and Monsters, The Maze Runner trilogy) and Eliza Scanlen (The Starling Girl, Sharp Objects) star in this sci-fi mystery/thriller.
Caddo Lake has three things going for it – an interesting premise, solid acting from O’Brien, Scanlen and Lauren Ambrose (Yellowjackets, Six Feet Under), and a fantastic, mysterious setting covered in cypress trees and Spanish moss. But unfortunately, it is saddled with a confusing, convoluted screenplay ripped straight from the pages of a 2017 Netflix series. (Click the hyperlink only if you are okay with the spoiler.) There is very little character development, and the story leaves a lot up for interpretation, which in this case, means lots of plot holes.
M. Night Shyamalan is a producer of this snoozefest from writer/directors Logan George and Celine Held, who also wrote and directed several episodes of his series Servant. Caddo Lake’s big twist will become apparent to anyone paying just a bit of attention to the dual storylines and similar appearances of a couple of key characters, but few will care, given that this dull mystery/thriller is neither mysterious nor thrilling.
REEL FACTS
• Caddo Lake writer/directors Logan George and Celine Held also wrote and directed the 2020 drama Topside, about a mother and child living below ground in New York City’s abandoned subway tunnels.
• Dylan O’Brien also stars as a young Dan Ackroyd in this 2024 film Saturday Night, which premieres in theaters today.
• Caddo Lake was filmed on location at Caddo Lake, site of the world’s first over-water oil platform in 1911. It is now a state park.
Video & Photo
Did you know my grandfather was involved in that overwater platform? We had 5000 acres there that cousin Marshall managed to get away from us. We sold the former Gulf Camp to Don Henley for a million so I got a tiny cut of that. 5K. It was the highest ground anywhere. Henley created a conservatory for Caddo and has done GREAT work to keep the lake alive. It's still not recommended that one eat the fish. Have you ANY IDEA HOW MUCH FISH IVE EATEN OUTTA THAT LAKE?!?!? And drunk the sulfer smelling water..my WHOLE LIFE until I was in my late 40's... I'm sure I already have brain lesions 🔥. I don't know why I bother with anything organic 😎 I'm a living cesspool. But of course I would watch it for the scenery. In the pic...it appears that he is boating through The Government Ditch. It's a slave dug channel connecting two different bodies of water. It's a special kind of creepy. Kinda loved it actually. 😀❤️