The Lie

Horror giants Blumhouse move into their own “Straight to Streaming” with their “Welcome To Blumhouse” library and first out is The Lie, a slow burn thriller that badly lacks the horror and any real surprises…..

In the age we are living in, any new material for filmgoers is a welcome treat so when it was announced that BLUMHOUSE were releasing a batch of films for us to feast on, then of course we could not help than be delighted at the prospect.

The one thing we are guaranteed when the name BLUMHOUSE is attached to a film, is that there’ll be horror and maybe a ghostly spectacle, so its odd that the first film to be released was The Lie, a film that is so far removed from the company’s back catalogue that many will be taken aback when they decide to sit down and watch.

It what is basically a slow burn drama, The Lie focuses on the divorced couple Jay (Peter Sarsgaard) and Rebecca (Mireille Enos) and their daughter Kayla (Joey King), who is struggling with their new family dynamic.

While Jay is taking Kayla to a weekend dance retreat, they pick up her friend Brittany (Devery Jacobs) who starts to flirt with Jay before asking can they stop the car as she needs a “toilet break”.

With a snowy setting and miles from the nearest town, both girls disappear into the woods until Jay hears a scream and discovers his daughter crying and stating that she pushed Brittany off the very bridge she is sitting on after arguing about a boy.

With Kayla’s friend presumed dead, the film asks the question “What would you do as a parent?” Protect at all costs or do the right thing?

While The Lie is beautiful to look at and once more shows the growing potential of King, the plot itself struggles to engage like it should, offering a dour experience that many will find hard to shake.

Both Sarsgaard and Enos excel as the troubled parents who struggle with the situation they find themselves in and overall its astutely directed by The Killing’s Veena Sud, but it desperately lacks the necessary bite to make the viewing rewarding.

Its also let down by a sign posted twist that when you finally reach the reveal, you will no doubt shake your head and wonder to yourself, why have you wasted the last 90 minutes to get to an ending you foresaw once this particular lie was created…..