Herein Lies The Horror Of Being A “Lost Child”
This is a horror movie like no other. While the initial premise felt a bit cliché, the idea that this took place in the Ozarks where superstitious beliefs continue to live, sounded intriguing. From the moment we meet Fern we see that something is not quite right with her. She gives the appearance of having suffered through some type of psychological or emotional trauma during her tour of duty, and yet she is reluctant to say anything about what it is. It helps that she was also well played by the multi-faceted Leven Rambin. Having acted in in a wide range of genre films (The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson), as well as directing movies on her own, she understands all of the different acting tones that are needed to give Fern a fully realized character, even when Fern doesn’t share openly all the problems that she has endured.
Then there is the biggest surprise of the movie, and that is Landon Edwards as Cecil. Landon was a local and only learned about auditions for the role through a newspaper advertisement. His performance is both vulnerable and creepy, which helps to keep the viewer on the fence as to who he really is. However to reveal more details about the nature of his performance and the character motivations would be to spoil the details of this film. Suffice to say, both Rambin and Edwards played beautifully off of each other. Their on-screen chemistry is delightful to watch and did a masterful job at keeping me engrossed in the story.
With Lost Child we are given a story that is about healing. We are meant to assume that the lost child is Cecil, and while that presentation is not necessarily inaccurate, we come to learn through Fern’s character development that she too has become something of a lost child. There is trauma in her life that she experienced prior to her time in the military that informs who she has become and why she is lost. Her encounter with Cecil, the other lost child, provides a healing that she has not expected. The question for you, dear viewer, is does it provide the same healing for Cecil, or is he indeed the Tatterdemalion that the local folklore accuses him of being?
Given that I watched Tatterdemalion as opposed to Lost Child, I have elected to give this movie the benefit of the doubt in believing that the newer edit will improve the storytelling.
With that I will give Lost Child 4 out 5 rusty nails!
Lost Child will play in select theaters on September 14th, and will be released on DVD/VOD on September 18th.
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