Film of the Week: The Lie (heavy spoilers)

Warning, Spoilers throughout

Created by Blumhouse Productions and distributed by Amazon Studios, this Amazon Original film, Lie is a psychological horror about Kayla Logan (Joey King) attempting to bring her family together by confessing to pushing her friend, Brittany (Devery Jacobs), over a bridge and into the water. The plan was meant to work both ways, allowing Brittany to go off and see her boyfriend uninterrupted by anyone for a few days. The plan works perfectly for Brittany, but for Kayla, things began to unravel very quickly and she soon realises she should have thought things through before agreeing to the plan.

What I wanted to talk about mainly in this article is the twist at the end, when we discover that Brittany is still alive. It does it's very best to showcase the twist as if it came out of nowhere, and for the characters, Brittany walking in is certainly an jaw-dropper moment, because they're struggling to believe that she could be there, especially after all that they've been through; but it doesn't give us, the audience, much to ponder about.

Like every other movie that has a twist at the end, there are subtle clues littered throughout that we usually spot during the second viewing, once the twist had been fully revealed and we know exactly what's going on. The entire viewing experience is then shrouded in a strong sense of dramatic irony, and it's the collective talent of the filmmakers to keep us entertained and hooked despite our knowledge of what's going to happen. A very good twist will change the way the film feels entirely, and you'll wish you could go back and watch it for the first time again. Lie didn't have that for me. It had the subtle clues, there's no doubt about that, but it had that strong sense that something was going to happen, and when it does, we don't necessarily feel shocked that Brittany is still alive.

OK, so, let me elaborate a little more. It is fair to say that the sense that something was going to happen is a far statement to make, considering we weren't given all the clues to figure out exactly what was going to happen, so when Brittany walks in through the door, the viewing experience during that scene isn't entirely fueled by shock, but intermingled with the sense of relieve that it finally happened. But, the film doesn't do enough overall whilst building up that scene to create the impact that scene deserved. The concept was definitely there, because it's easy to see what was intended, but unfortunately didn't convey enough to enlighten that scene to its full potential.