So Cold the River (2022)

Directed by Paul Shoulberg [Other horror films: N/A]

For a couple of reasons, I was really hoping that I could have a good time with So Cold the River. I mean, read the plot – does it not sound intriguing? Because of that mild hope, I find myself quite disappointed with this one, and most unfortunately of all, I don’t even exactly know why.

Based on a 2010 novel of the same name, written by Michael Koryta, So Cold the River follows a filmmaker’s attempt to discover the life of one Bradford Campbell. What makes this stand out more, on a personal level, is that the movie was filmed in Indiana – both West Baden Springs and French Lick. Now, to be sure, these towns are in southern Indiana, whereas I live in northern Indiana, but still, it’s nice to have some local flavor.

Even so, while the movie definitely had potential – and more so, definitely had a decent production value behind it – I found much of this underwhelming, and as I alluded to, I’m not even sure why, to be honest. Part of it, I think, has to do with the fact that I still don’t have a clear image of who Bradford Campbell was. They dip into his past a little bit, but I just felt there was more to the story that they never got to.

I’m also not wild about Bethany Joy Lenz’s character. Even from the beginning, before the random flashes and visions and gulps of water, I just couldn’t get into her. And speaking of the water, there’s some importance given to a bottle of water in this film. No idea what that importance is – there was a scene at the end that might have explained it to someone, but certainly not me – so there’s another thing that felt off.

That’s probably the main issue. Plenty of threads were interesting – the Rebirth celebration, the bottle of water (which is connected to the origins of Bradford Campbell), the hotel – but nothing was tied together particularly well. It hurts all the more because, as I said, I think a lot of these elements had potential, and as a Hoosier, I can’t help but root for movies made in my state.

None of this is to say the performances were poor. Though I didn’t care for her character, I thought Bethany Joy Lenz (Thinner) did fine. More interesting to me was Katie Sarife (Annabelle Comes Home); her character could have had more depth, but at least she was involved in the finale. Kevin Cahoon was pretty fun as a cheery hotel worker (“That’s a fun interpretation of formal attire”), and while I think more could have been done with his character, Andrew J. West (Nightmare Code) had a good look to him.

More than anything, watching this movie makes me want to read the 2010 novel. I’ve never read anything by Michael Koryta – in fact, I’ve never heard the name – but I have to imagine that the novel is more fleshed out than the film is, and I wouldn’t mind giving it a try.

The production value behind this film was solid. The filming locations looked great – we even get extended scenes in the West Baden Springs Hotel, which just looked beautiful. If you’ve not seen what the hotel looks like, you’re missing out.

Everything looked nice in this movie, and I think it’s a damn shame that So Cold the River didn’t have the story to back it up. I will say I thought the finale was decent, but still, shining a bit more light onto exactly why the things that were happening were happening would have been nice.

5.5/10