Disappearance At Lake Elrod [DVD] [2021]

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The film was shot entirely in the state of Georgia in a charming little town called Ellijay in the northern part of the state. And you’re right, the location is part and parcel to the story. It becomes almost a character in the film. It’s so important to storytelling that the location be authentic and reflect the mood and tone of the script. It’s really quite a beautiful part of the country, and being somewhat isolated in a small town helped inform the ‘southern’ setting of the characters. I did stay in a small hotel just outside of Ellijay for the duration of the shoot. It was only a couple of weeks, so it wasn’t a conventional “relocation” for me. As for the awkward let’s-explain-everything-in-one-scene climax, the stumblebum exposition might just have you rolling your eyes, thinking that the film might also be suffering from some critical miscasting. Lauren Fash’s debut feature, Disappearance at Lake Elrod takes us to the small, sleepy American town of Elrod, Georgia. Here, we meet Charlie (Robyn Lively), a woman who takes medication and drinks at the local bar as a means of coping with the pent-up anger and grief that she has endured for the past year following the disappearance of her daughter, Lily (Kinsley Isla Dillon). During that time, her relationship with her partner Angela (Bethany Anne Lind) has deteriorated significantly as a result. How do you feel about the reported reboot of Battlestar Galactica? [Trucco played Samuel T. Anders in the acclaimed 2000s sci-fi series.]

As well as horror, you’re well known for comedy roles on the likes of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory. Which is hardest to pull off? Is it harder to make people laugh or scare them? Right at the start of the series, you’re introduced to this unique, isolated, island community. How did you get yourself into that mindset? It’s a million miles away from you in LA… Centred around the disappearance of an 8-year-old girl – a mystery that has haunted her mother, Charlie ( Robyn Lively, half-sister to Blake Lively, for those playing at home), leading to bouts of emotional breakdowns and psychological hallucinations – the 90’s set thriller sets itself a year after Charlie’s daughter’s disappearance and the ramifications it has had. Lively portrays Charlie with a tragic stillness, the actress wisely adopting the less-is-more approach as she continues to seek answers from a small town that has essentially vilified her. As a small town mystery and a psychological thriller, the film does little wrong, although this is arguably because it rarely sets foot into new territory. In the places where innovations are attempted, these often feel mismanaged. The ones that work are underutilised, whilst the ones that do not are downright ineffective. Trucco, who previously appeared in Flanagan’s 2016 film Hush, added he would do Midnight Mass season 2 ‘in a heartbeat’.Call me simple, but a jumpscare. I love a great sting: loud music, loud noise and in the moment you don’t expect it. That’s the dopamine that I seek out when I’m seeing a horror show. As Charlie works to solve the case, she begins to experience strange occurrences. There is a frequent blurring of the past and the present, and of fantasy and reality. She struggles with visions of her daughter and memories from her life. However, whilst these make for some of the most hauntingly compelling and narratively interesting developments in terms of plot and character, Fash should probably have leaned into these horror elements even moreso, as these truly help the viewer to understand Charlie’s mindset and elicit genuine sympathy and mystery. I’ve been doing this for 20 plus years. Women are integral in every facet of filmmaking. But when it comes to right there at the pinnacle, at the directorial level, it is still just dominated by men, largely white men. Why are we not lending a voice to the female directors? It’s sad that in 2021, we’re still having this conversation. Lauren has every business and every right to be standing behind that camera as just as much as anybody else I’ve ever worked for.

It’s happening again for this grieving mother and she steps completely out of her comfort zone to make sure that what started with her own daughter, ends with the latest abduction. The town might think she’s crazy and a pain in the police department’s ass, but she’s not wrong. Just look at the evidence and she is taking her message to the masses.I read that book, cover to cover. I just absorbed it. And I went a deep dive into YouTube videos and interviews with people from that island. So I can understand the mentality, because this character and these people are very specific. The way Mike and his writing team wrote them is very specific. this mystery takes one mother through endless nights full of shaky social terrains where promises aren’t kept" This is a really fascinating time in media and entertainment. In the last five years, the channels, the explosion of entertainment, and avenues for new content to appear, are endless. That’s created a whole bunch of noise. So for anything to rise above the din, to capture the attention, to be talked about, is such a gift. It’s familiar amateur sleuth territory, which is fine; we all like getting wrapped up in a cheesy, well=plotted mystery, even if the sign-posting is a little obvious and predictable.

Midnight Mass has been a huge hit since it came out last month. How has that rollercoaster been for you? The film really needed more invention, an issue accentuated by the poorly handled left turn it takes half-way through. When alibis don’t hold up and connections are too secure to deny, Charlie has no choice but to take matters into her own hands and risk it all. She goes to friends with her truth. She goes to foes. No one is to be trusted. Not in Elrod.Full of great performances and a chilling vibe throughout (reminiscent of Winter’s Bone), this mystery takes one mother through endless nights full of shaky social terrains where promises aren’t kept and a family’s name offers more fortitude than their actions. There is, however, only so much forgiveness you can extend to a genre film that is striving to deliver a decent little thriller. Set in a small southern town in Georgia – that American state where local law mandates that everybody speaks with a twang – a bedraggled mother staples a home-made missing person poster onto a pole.

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Michael Trucco: This did not feel like her freshman effort at all. She’s extremely comfortable behind the camera. She’s really comfortable with her with her cast and crew. And that’s the sign of a good leader. I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do next. Because if this is her directorial debut, we’re in for some good things from Lauren.

Charlie’s standing with the community only worsens when another young girl goes missing. Already being blamed for the disappearance of her daughter, this latest victim – the daughter of toxic man-child Chip Carmichael ( Michael Trucco) – uncovers old wounds for the eternally hurting Charlie, and the more she tries to inject herself into the case, the more broken her psyche becomes. And now you’re in another huge series, ‘Midnight Mass’ as well as the new mystery thriller ‘Disappearance at Lake Elrod’….when did both these projects come along? Though there’s perhaps a few too many “missing kid mystery” tropes adhered to in Disappearance at Lake Elrod– the grieving mother, the potentially corrupt police, the buried secrets coming to life – writer/director Lauren Fash injects enough character development and psychological complexity for it to get away with it. And that’s not the only spot of bother in Disappearance at Lake Elrod (also known as Through the Glass Darkly), a strained, cliché-ridden by-the-numbers missing person mystery that can’t make all the pieces of the puzzle snap together the way a good mystery should. Flanagan and production partner Trevor Macy have the ‘Midas touch’ when it comes to creating films and TV series, he says, ‘and as an actor you dream about a scenario where you can be in a creative circle like that’.When another young girl goes missing in the town, Charlie becomes adamant in her belief that the case is related to the unaccounted disappearance of her daughter and starts to personally investigate the incident, bemoaning the apparent incompetence of the local police department and citing a conspiracy. However, as evidence begins to emerge, Charlie becomes a prime suspect herself and takes up the assistance of investigative journalist Amy (Shanola Hampton).