By John Corrado
In his feature debut River, partially inspired by his 2018 short film In Sound, We Live Forever, director Joshua Giuliano crafts a fun slasher movie built around the deceptively simple yet effective premise of three siblings trapped on a river.
The siblings are Lucy (Jane Levy), Carla (Jessica Rothe) and Drew (Max Mattern), who reunite in the wake of their father’s death. There are old tensions lingering beneath the surface, especially between the two sisters, with their younger brother serving as mediator. But a memorial trip down a secluded river in their dad’s old motorboat takes a dark turn when they run out of gas, and get trapped in the middle of the water. And they are being hunted by deranged, masked killer (played by Dane DiLiegro in an eery performance).
If River doesn’t really reinvent the slasher movie wheel, and has a few pacing issues at around ninety minutes that show his short film background, Giuliano does elevate it with some creative twists. He crafts a few shots and sequences that allow this to serve as a solid calling card for him as a horror filmmaker. We get cool cinematography by Nick Matthews, and the film also features heavy and admirable use of in-camera practical effects, which gives the violence a more tactile quality.
Giuliano also smartly grounds the story in the relationship between the three siblings, carried by a pair of scream queen performances from Levy and Rothe. It’s a pretty solid thrill ride, with some gnarly moments that had the opening night Midnight Madness crowd cheering. That obviously elevates the experience, but River will also play well when it eventually lands on Shudder.
The Joy of Movies 