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Indie movies are where it’s at, well, they are more interesting than Hollywood. We had the trailer for The Drowned recently, and I will admit, I wasn’t blown away, but I was sent a screener. I’ll give everything a fair go, though, with an open mind.
The Drowned stars Lily Catalifo, Corrinne Wicks, Michelangelo Fortuzzi, Alan Calton, Dominic Vulliamy, and Lara Lemon. Samuel Clomens is the writer and director. The story is:
After pulling off an art heist, three men arrive at a secluded coastal safe house to discover their fourth accomplice missing. Was one of them responsible, or is there a malevolent ancient myth lurking at the water’s edge?
The Story
We open with a lone man driving to a remote countryside location. He abandons his car and walks to a house on a beach, in the middle of nowhere. It seems to be a safehouse for after a heist. The first guy there is nervous and has a gun.
Two other men from the heist turn up, and it seems everything is cool. Well, everything seems cool until the guys start to see strange things. Even worse, they seem to get hypnotised and end up outside, with no memory of how they got there.
It takes more of a turn when three ladies turn up. At first, they just seem to be lost, but that isn’t their full story. I won’t break down the story much more, but it’s fairly interesting.
The Cast
I find that with indie movies like The Drowned, I always give them a bit of leeway with the acting. Sometimes, it’s not the best, but then the actors don’t always do it full-time. Here, the acting is solid, I’m not saying mind-blowing, but everyone carries the story well.
I used to be a snob about actors; if I hadn’t heard of them, I didn’t watch the movie. This is unfair, as you have a lot of indie actors who are really good and just haven’t hit the big time yet. One of the actors in this movie is credited for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Creature Feature
The Drowned was sold as a creature feature. In my opinion, it’s not a creature feature. Godzilla is, The Thing is, Jaws is, because they have creatures in them. I think back to the day of Ray Harrihausen, with movie monsters, you know, creatures.
This is where The Drowning falls down. Technically, there are ‘creatures’ in this, but they aren’t seen as creatures, i.e. they aren’t seen as monsters with tentacles or 15 eyes. It’s all figurative, which is fine, but don’t sell it as a creature feature if you don’t see the creature; that’s half the fun.
Spoilers
Here is the other thing about The Drowning. One movie troupe I hate is patronising the audience. In movies, when a truck goes by, it’s always sounding its horn. If there’s a cat, you HAVE to hear it meow. I know what a cat is; you don’t have to make it meow to confirm it’s a cat.
In The Drowning, it’s pretty obvious what the three ladies are, but it hints at it all the way through. Until the end, where the movie should have finished, and it would have been a decent ending.
However, the script has to explain that the three women are sirens, mermaids, if you will. Well DUH! We knew that from fairly early on, they were the ‘creatures’ that we don’t get to see. I have seen a couple of cheap horrors with evil mermaids, and they are fun, in a cheesy way.
I don’t mind making a movie about sirens and how they affect people psychologically, but don’t sell the movie as a creature feature.
Overall
The Drowning is an interesting concept; some of the script is very good, with good acting, but it’s just confusing. If this were made as more of a thriller, hinting at the women’s true identity, it might have been more interesting.
The fact that they had to spell it out to you at the end made me feel patronised, and I’m not a fan. It would have been far better to leave this movie asking ‘Were they sirens or not?’. Not end it with, yeah, the thing we hinted at, it was that.
You can’t love all movies, and we’ve always said we’ll give you an honest review. The Drowned gets a generous 1.5 stars out of 5, there are good moments, but not enough to be patronised at the end.
The Drowned will be on digital on the 6th of Oct.
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