The Lie
by Veena Sud
Recently, I stumbled across a couple of new films on Amazon Prime with a friendly “welcome to the Blumhouse,” in the synopsis. I vaguely remember hearing something about a series of films that were coming soon and so I decided to dive in. While Blumhouse is known for their horror — whether it be good or bad I’m not here to debate at the moment — I can’t say that there was much horror in what I’ve seen so far. This particular review is on Peter Sarsgaard and Mireille Enos (neither of whom are strangers to the horror genre) feature The Lie.
The film starts off simply enough: troubled teen and product of divorce, Kayla, is on the way to a ballet retreat when she spots her friend, Britney, at a bus stop. After a small tiff in the car on the way, they stop for a bathroom break in the middle of nowhere, because, of course they would, and Britney meets an untimely demise at the hands of her supposed best friend. From here, unfortunately, the film quickly loses steam and unfolds into more of a family drama than any sort of horror film at all.
Now, while the film might feel more like an after school special, I’m not saying it was a bad watch at all, it’s just quite slow and a bit on the predictable side. And let me just emphasize the after school special thing a bit more, it really is heavy on the cheese in some parts, especially the ending. The Lie just wasn’t what I was expecting at all, especially with the name Blumhouse attached to the project. The acting in itself is fantastic from the leads and the writing/storyline is worth it when all is said and done, so give The Lie a shot if you haven’t already!
I would say I’m not entirely impressed with this series of films having watched two or four so far, but I wouldn’t warn anyone away from them either. Just go in with the idea that these aren’t your typical Blumhouse horror flicks and lean heavily toward the dramatic and suspenseful instead.
Look for reviews on the other Welcome to The Blumhouse films in my upcoming pieces!
(This review originally appeared on Horror Metal Sounds.)