Review: Blumhouse's 'The Lie' is a mediocre, frightless thriller

The Lie
2.5 out of 5 Stars
Director: Veena Sud
Writer: Sebastian Ko, Marcus Seibert, Veena Sud
Starring: Peter Sarsgaard, Joey King, Mireille Enos
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rated: R for language throughout, some violence and brief sexuality

WARNING:Be advised. This article contains spoilers.

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) —Synopsis: A daughter and father are en route to a dance camp when they see the girl’s best friend, who is also supposed to be attending the camp, waiting at a bus stop. They stop to give the best friend a ride, but the journey doesn’t go as planned and the situation quickly spirals out of control.

Review: “The Lie” is being released on Amazon Prime as part of their “Welcome to the Blumhouse” series. Blumhouse Productions is primarily known for their horror franchises like Insidious, Paranormal Activity, The Purge, Sinister and Happy Death Day. So, I was expecting “The Lie” to be a horror film. It’s more of a drama with thriller elements. It might scare on a psychological level, but it isn’t likely to send chills down anyone’s spine.

The story is built around Jay (Peter Sarsgaard) and Rebecca (Mireille Enos), a divorced couple, and their teenage daughter Kayla (Joey King). Though it isn’t recent, Kayla still feels upended by her parents’ separation.

Due to her busy professional life, Rebecca asks Jay to take Kayla to her weekend dance camp. On their way, Kayla sees classmate and best friend, Brittany (Devery Jacobs), waiting for a bus. Brittany explains she had a fight with her father. Jay offers her a ride.

Neither girl makes it to dance camp. Brittany disappears entirely. Kayla claims to be responsible for her friend’s disappearance. This forces Jay and Rebecca to come together to defend their daughter. Lying when necessary. Essentially, “The Lie” is a film that explores how far two parents are willing to go to protect their child.

Based on the German film “We Monsters,” “The Lie” is an adequate, never exceptional, thriller. The most interesting aspect of the film is the continuously changing dynamics between the characters, but the characters themselves lack depth and personality. Still, the acting is decent, and the production value is generally high. It should feel more dangerous, less vanilla. You’d get more out of watching “We Need to Talk About Kevin.”