Lanier (2023) Review

Lanier (2023) Review

Inspired by true events in Oscarville, Georgia and rumoured hauntings on Lake Lanier, comes this haunting thriller written and directed by William Eric Bush-Anderson & Cindy Kunz-Anderson, in their feature debut. The film arrives on UK digital 5 May from Reel 2 Reel Films.

Detective Jeff Stevenson (Ali Ashtigo – HERMAN JONES) heads off to Lake Lanier for an exciting weekend getaway with his wife (Jamie Lee – BLUR CIRCLE) to celebrate their daughter’s birthday. But the celebrations are soon derailed when Jeff is pulled into a mysterious drowning case, teaming up with local detective Daniel Wilson (Jarrett Michael Collins – CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, JOHNSON).

As the duo work on the case Jeff denies Daniel’s numerous theories that the lake is haunted and that underneath the surface lies a fallen city, Oscarville, a once thriving black community that was destroyed in 1912.

Jeff’s denial has dangerous consequences as he learns that still waters do indeed run deep, and his worst fears come true when masked strangers force themselves into his home and he must fight for the survival of his family.

From the very moment I received an email from the marketing team behind this UK release I knew that I had to see LANIER. Was it because of its ‘inspired by a true story’ tagline or by the film’s synopsis which promised a creepy yarn with supernatural leanings? Nope, it was the film’s poster, an image of a woman floating under the surface of Lake Lanier. It is an arresting image, and I applaud whoever produced that artwork, it certainly did what it is meant to do. It sold the film to me and no doubt it will do the same for others as well.

From the very start this is a mess on every conceivable level. LANIER fails on every level – performances are either over-ripe of static, the script is incoherent, and the directing is aimless. It drums home its underlying socially conscious agenda to breaking point. This is no GET OUT. LANIER becomes increasingly more muddled and confused with every passing minute making each one of its meagre seventy-three minutes runtime a prolonged agony to sit through. It is not PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE level of bad, but it comes very close.

On digital 5 May from Reel 2 Reel Films