Caddo Lake (2024) Movie Review - Compelling Mystery Thriller

Welcome to Knockout Horror. I am really trying to clear up some of the movies I missed last year. The horror world is a bit on the quiet side at the moment so I figured this was a good chance to do it. One of those titles is the mystery horror, thriller, Caddo Lake.

This movie was very well received last year and turned out to be something of a sleeper hit. It follows the story of the disappearance of an 8 year old girl on Caddo Lake. A mystery which uncovers a series of links and connections between the past and the present of the strange location.

A Fairly Compelling Mystery

I suppose Caddo Lake should be classed, predominantly, as a mystery thriller movie. Sure, there are horror elements, but this is an old fashioned mystery thriller and, for what it is worth, it is pretty compelling. A girl goes missing while looking for her older sister. Only for the search to uncover some extremely strange secrets about the location of Caddo Lake.

The story plays out in something of a non-linear nature. Offering up two individual stories featuring a few, seemingly, unconnected characters that don’t meet, despite sharing a location. You aren’t quite aware of when the stories are taking place. You only know that there are a few links between them but the two never seem to intertwine.

One story features a family searching for their missing daughter on the lake. The other features a young man, Paris (Dylan O’Brien), trying to get to the bottom of his late mother’s death in a car accident. It isn’t until the end that the two stories collide and that’s when things get a little strange.

Shyamalan-Esque

My quote, to my fiancée, while watching Caddo Lake was one drawn from a fantastic episode of the Simpsons when homer refers to M Knight Shyamalan. “Now that’s a plot twist worthy of one of his increasingly lousy movies”. The reason being; I had clocked what the big mystery behind Caddo Lake was, fairly early on. And related it to my partner and we both chuckled about it. This was at about the halfway point.

I am sure you can imagine my surprise when my exact prediction came true. Only for the credits to roll and for us to see Shyamalan’s name pop up in a producer role. My fiancée and I both burst out laughing. Caddo Lake is, very much, one of those types of movies that builds its entire foundation on a shaky plot twist that comes together later on in the film. It is, for lack of a better description, extremely Shyamalan-esque.

The entire movie’s build up is for one big pay off at the end. Bringing everything together and then dumping it out onto the table like a huge Louisiana seafood boil for the viewer to either stare at in disgust or tuck into with vigorous enthusiasm.

But Does It Work?

Like many movies of this type, whether it works or not is partly up to the viewer. The truth of the matter is, much of the movie feels extremely chaotic and quite confusing. There are numerous scenes that feel ruthlessly redundant. All because they will come into the big reveal later on. There are a lot of individual cogs moving here that don’t always feel like they are sharing the same timing. It can feel a bit awkward and a bit messy, at times.

Caddo Lake is, really, one of those movies that you will reflect on and, either, really love or simply dislike. I didn’t find too much of what was happening to be all that interesting but it wasn’t difficult to stick with it. Around the last third of the film, things pick up a lot. Much of what came earlier suddenly makes sense and the movie becomes immediately more compelling.

Although I had figured things out, I felt as though the exposition dump towards the end, though heavy handed, does a nice job of bringing things together. Potentially offering up a good excuse for certain viewers to fire it up in the future for another watch. I mentioned Shyamalan earlier on but, to be honest, Caddo Lake is a lot more enjoyable and executed a lot better than the majority of his movies. The mystery here is actually satisfying. Hell, it’s even quite touching, at times.

Well Done

The satisfying feeling of the puzzle pieces suddenly sliding into place is rewarding to anyone who took the time to pay attention to every detail. There’s a reason for everything that happens here and you can go right back through everything and put it neatly into its own section of the picture. It’s very well done and it’s tough not to appreciate just how much work went into making this story logical. There are a couple of things that, I feel, don’t make a lot of sense but they are quite forgivable in the grand scheme of things.

Acting is excellent, throughout. Committed performances from Dylan O’Brien, Eliza Scanlen, and Diana Hopper make the story very easy to buy into. The location, and the difficulties it causes for its residents, feels suitably oppressive and fitting of a movie like this.

The need to get around using boats adds a dimension to the movie that makes it feel quite timeless. While also fitting nicely into the overarching narrative of the film. Direction is decent. Logan George and Celine Held do a very nice job of keeping things interesting enough to get to the really compelling stuff. While deserving a lot of praise for how they bring it all together towards the end.

Should You Watch Caddo Lake?

You should definitely watch Caddo Lake. I would be rating it a tad higher if I didn’t think that it will lose a few people early on with its rather messy timelines and narratives. If you stick with it, however, Caddo Lake is a legitimately great movie. A satisfying, albeit predictable, story brought together by some really tight pacing, clever writing, and excellent acting. It’s not really horror but it’s interesting, and dark enough, to appeal to horror fans. Give it a watch.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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