‘River’ A Pulse-Pounding Slasher Debut [FANTASTIC FEST REVIEW]

The idyllic setting of the American wilderness feels as if it should not lend itself to horror as well as it does, but all that isolation invokes a primal fear viewers can’t shake. Nobody wants to be stranded alone without cell service, especially when they’re as exposed as the characters in River are on their stalled boat.

River is as much about horror as it is about how trauma can strain and shape familial bonds. The story follows three siblings: the older sister, Carla (Jessica Rothe), the middle sister Lucy (Jane Levy), and the younger brother Drew (Max Mattern). They have the vestiges of a formerly strong bond, as evidenced by their shorthands and the old home videos they watch together, but there is still a clear rift between them.

Carla, driven away by their father’s behavior, hasn’t been back home in some time. When he passes, she returns to her siblings so join them in spreading his ashes on the water as he requested. But where Lucy recalls only the fond memories of their dad, Carla is less forgiving. Her eulogy is a scathing remembrance of all the ways he hurt them.

That all ceases to matter when Carla tries to start the boat so they can go back to shore. They find out that the fuel line was severed from something they hit earlier in the water, and they have no cell service, so their only choice is to swim back to shore. Carla begins swimming only for a strange man at the shore to jump in and begin chasing her.

River Elevates the Slasher Genre

River treads a line between a slasher film and a supernatural film, leaving the viewers to wonder which is true. Once the man gets back to the shore he raises his hand towards the sky, triggering a trippy, red-saturated sequence. Was it a signal? Did anything actually happen? The film never fully explores that thread, which is somewhat frustrating. But it does not detract from how successful the story is at terrifying the audience, especially with the persistence of the killers.

Part of River‘s success is owed to its cinematography and director Joshua Giuliano’s framing choices. The film lingers on characters when things are happening off-camera, which allows viewers to witness the horror in real time. And speaking of, there’s absolutely no shortage of that. Once the violence begins it doesn’t let up, and each second these characters are stuck out on the water is another second that they’re in danger.

The momentum of the film does not allow for extended periods of retroflection, which plays to its strengths. The immediacy of the danger is present and felt as the siblings make their way from the water to the land. However, even solid ground can’t help them as the film evolves into something like a home invasion chase. The scenery switches from a boat to a house, where more horrors are hidden in the dark hallways.

Levy reminds us why she is the final girl. When she’s on screen, which is most of the film, she commands it. Though River doesn’t employ major weapons, it doesn’t need those to scare you. Its premise is something that could reasonably happen to anybody. There’s a reason people are warned about the woods, especially when they are isolated.

Another thing about River is that it seems like it has more to give. There is a cyclical nature to it that begs for more. Whether or not a continuation will be made remains to be seen, but what River gives us is more than satisfying for now.