The Drowned
It is said there is little honour among thieves, but there is just as little trust; the heist completed without apparent hitch, the gang have split up and travelled via separate routes to their rendezvous, Eric haunted as he drives the long road through forest and tunnel, glancing behind nervously, somehow first to arrive at the remote hideout on the coast, a concern magnified when he finds bloodstains in the sand.
As yet undissipated so recent, he washes them away before the others arrive, Matt, his clandestine lover, handling the passports, and Paul, their tech and supplies guy, with Eric the muscle of the outfit, with Matt’s mother Denice still absent, but despite the isolation the men are not alone, drawn strangely to the water as though they were called with no memory of how they got there and later finding three women, washed ashore when their boat sank.
A thriller with hints of supernatural horror written and directed by Samuel Clemens, distantly related to the iconic American writer though more directly to Captain Kronos’ Brian, The Drowned stars Alan Calton, Dominic Vulliamy and Michaelangelo Fortuzzi as Eric, Matt and Paul with Lara Lemon, Lily Catalifo and Sandrine Salyères as Opal, Pixie and Noé, the latter making a swift recovery from near-drowning as suspicious as the coincidence that the three new arrivals tally with the three men.
Flirtatiously ingratiating themselves into the hospitality of the trio who should be on high alert, aware of the real possibility of exposure or betrayal, that they can so easily switch from hostile paranoia to pyjama party drinking games of truth or dare without warning sirens going off is unconvincing, the still missing Denice (Corrinne Wicks) presumably the brains behind the theft of the painting valued at £40 million because it’s clearly none of them.
With large portions filmed in the dark and the jumble of accents making the mumbled dialogue frequently unintelligible, the flashbacks only contrive to muddy the water, the main story making even less sense with the implication that Eric is having an affair with both mother and son and that there is indeed a traitor among them, revelations which somehow have no impact on the events as they unfold.
Originally titled The Waterhouse, a reference to the 1896 J W Waterhouse painting Hylas and the Nymphs which might have been pertinent had it appeared before the final scene, not that it matters with the three women obviously not what they present themselves as to all but the men they target, The Drowned is a soggy mess of ideas poorly executed, the women as agents of vengeance never warranted and their presence at a remote spot where hunting is likely to be sparse never justified.
The Drowned will be available on digital download from early October
