There’s so much about Logan George and Celine Held’sCaddo Lake that I want to discuss, but as per “No Spoiler” requests, cannot. Apologies if there’s a vagueness to my review as a result. Producer M. Night Shyamalan read a version of George and Held’s script while they collaborated on Apple+’s Servant — a bayou mystery that bobs around Texas’s only naturally formed lake. Shyamalan eyed something special, and within a few months, they were prepping The Vanishing at Caddo Lake (original title). Unfortunately, whatever grabbed Shyamalan’s attention doesn’t shine through in George and Held’s final cut headed to Max. It’s a suspenseful family drama that drowns in the location’s surroundings, unable to capitalize on its Shyamalanian influences.

What Is ‘Caddo Lake’ About?

We follow two primary residents living on Caddo Lake. Dylan O’Brien’s grungy worker, Paris, resides in a shack and disassembles out-of-service pipes, still shaken by his mother’s untimely passing. Eliza Scanlen’s collegiate hopeful, Ellie, wants to leave Caddo Lake and escape her erratic, possibly abusive mother, Celeste (Lauren Ambrose). After another family dinner turns into an argument between Ellie and Celeste, younger stepsister and precious daughter Anna (Caroline Falk) goes missing on the lake. A community search begins to find Anna, and “a series of past deaths and disappearances begin to link” everyone around Caddo Lake in unexplainable ways.

George and Held refer to themselves as “location-based storytellers,” which is evident in Caddo Lake. Inspiration struck after finding a picture of the Louisiana-Texas landmark on Reddit, translated on screen as this split personality between both sides of the lake. Cinematographer Lowell A. Meyer surveys waters where gators roam with a sobering serenity, capturing the lake’s isolation through visual storytelling. Paris and his sweetheart Cee (Diana Hopper) stand in the architectural skeleton of what would have been their home, should Cee not have left for Houston, selling the rural pitstop that is Caddo Lake. The kind of lonely place where a child can easily disappear, swallowed by the vastness of nature.

‘Caddo Lake’s Solid Performances Can’t Save Its Third Act
Image via Max

When panic strikes, performances are at their best. Expressions hit a desperate pitch once Ellie calls Celeste, frantic over Anna’s whereabouts. Fill-in father figure Daniel (Eric Lange) has a booming determination when he confronts Ellie about a missing boat, while Ellie finds herself in an almost non-believing haze. Paris isn’t part of Ellie’s dysfunctional unit, but his engagement with Anna’s hopeful rescue adds another layer of intrigue as all these raw emotions swirl together. Helplessness becomes a hurtful feeling — what measures are “enough” while Anna’s still gone? George and Held provoke alarm with authenticity, and meet panicky reactions head-on.

Where the film falls apart is … well, a majority of the third act. Once Caddo Lake shapeshifts from a procedural thriller to something else, George and Held become murky storytellers. Visual signifiers become a homogeny of confusingly blended scenes, hard to differentiate when it’s needed most. Narrative rules are called into question and the stakes of Anna’s vanishing sink like an anchor. As ambitions balloon and cohesion unravels, we drift farther away from grasping the gravity of happenings. Paris and Ellie’s overlapping paths are a bungle of ideas that cross more wires than an amateur criminal’s homemade bomb, and it’s a dud.

Everything disappointing cannot be revealed, meant to be experienced fresh by Caddo Lake audiences. It’s a shame because George and Held are competent filmmakers, but unfortunately, they absorbed Shyamalan’s worst quality. As Caddo Lake wades into more complicated storytelling waters, readability tanks, and the back half spins wildly out of control in damning ways. Performances are strong, but their placement in an unsteady story does their deliveries a disservice. A compelling film until it isn’t; Caddo Lake can’t make sense of its own ideas.

Caddo Lake falls apart the deeper into its convoluted and sloppily constructed story, enduring the most damage in a problematic third act.ProsPerformances are generally strong.Cinematography nails the natural aesthetic.Somewhat successful in the first half. ConsThe eventual twist is where everything tanks.Feels like the filmmakers lose control of their own ideas.Once things start going downhill, there?s no recovery.

Caddo Lake (2024) Director Logan George , Celine Held Cast Dylan O’Brien , Eliza Scanlen , Lauren Ambrose , Eric Lange , Sam Hennings , Diana Hopper , Lance E. Nichols , Nina Leon , David Maldonado , Kim Baptiste , Jody Sellers , Greysen Conley , Jules Hilillo Fernandez

Caddo Lake comes to Max on October 10.

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