Loch Henry
Year: 2023
Directed by: Sam Miller
Starring: Samuel Blenkin, Monica Dolan, John Hannah, Myha'la Herrold & Daniel Portman
Runtime: 54 minutes
Published: 20/06/23
Directed by: Sam Miller
Starring: Samuel Blenkin, Monica Dolan, John Hannah, Myha'la Herrold & Daniel Portman
Runtime: 54 minutes
Published: 20/06/23
Netflix has made a killing off the true crime documentary. Basically, everyone I know watches them, even people I didn’t think would be interested in that kind of stuff. Even I have developed a morbid curiosity towards them of late, and no matter how engaging they are I do sometimes find myself wondering about the people behind the story, even ones that appear in the documentary, do they feel as though the film has done what they wanted it to do when they signed on? Do they feel exploited by the streaming platform? Does the newfound fame they get from the documentary make their lives even worse? Black Mirror certainly has a hot take on the matter.
When documentary filmmakers Davis McCardle (Samuel Blenkin) and his girlfriend Pia (Myha’la Herrold) travel to Davis’ hometown of Loch Henry to shoot their new documentary, Pia becomes fascinated by the local legend of serial killer Iain Adair (Tom Crowhurst). An insistent Pia convinced Davis to change the subject of the documentary from their original, and niche premise, to one that will capture the attention of the masses, and hopefully bring some closure to the residents of Loch Henry and increase tourism once again for the dying town. But, as expected, they uncover far more than they bargained for.
Black Mirror is well known for its primary themes being about the danger of the abuse of technology, but strangely enough Loch Henry has almost no technology in it. In fact, it rarely becomes more advanced than some VCR’s and a couple of 4K cameras. The only ‘warning’ here seems to be a matter of being careful where you go digging, and that maybe following personal connections to serial killers might uncover things you don’t really want to know.
It is, to an extent, about the pressure placed on modern documentary makers to find the thing that’ll be the most popular and then embellish on it to make it as exciting to the largest possible audience. But even this isn’t explored much.
When you get down to it, Loch Henry is just a horror story, about a documentary crew that bit off more than they expected. It is entertaining, but it doesn’t really fit into the Black Mirror mould very well.
When documentary filmmakers Davis McCardle (Samuel Blenkin) and his girlfriend Pia (Myha’la Herrold) travel to Davis’ hometown of Loch Henry to shoot their new documentary, Pia becomes fascinated by the local legend of serial killer Iain Adair (Tom Crowhurst). An insistent Pia convinced Davis to change the subject of the documentary from their original, and niche premise, to one that will capture the attention of the masses, and hopefully bring some closure to the residents of Loch Henry and increase tourism once again for the dying town. But, as expected, they uncover far more than they bargained for.
Black Mirror is well known for its primary themes being about the danger of the abuse of technology, but strangely enough Loch Henry has almost no technology in it. In fact, it rarely becomes more advanced than some VCR’s and a couple of 4K cameras. The only ‘warning’ here seems to be a matter of being careful where you go digging, and that maybe following personal connections to serial killers might uncover things you don’t really want to know.
It is, to an extent, about the pressure placed on modern documentary makers to find the thing that’ll be the most popular and then embellish on it to make it as exciting to the largest possible audience. But even this isn’t explored much.
When you get down to it, Loch Henry is just a horror story, about a documentary crew that bit off more than they expected. It is entertaining, but it doesn’t really fit into the Black Mirror mould very well.
The performances are for the most part reasonably good, but there is no real standout amongst the cast, even with an icon like John Hannah in tow. The only performance I would say stood out, for all the wrong reasons, was Monica Dolan’s turn as Davis’ mum Janet. Her attempt at a Scottish accent is truly awful, and it strips what good physicality she has in the role. Why they couldn’t have cast a Scottish actress, or just made his mum English I’m not sure, either way, it does leave a rather large blemish on the overall episode because of how much screentime she has.
I did enjoy the way the episode was put together though; it’s got some great pacing and some real standout scenes. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, and whilst it probably could have been a tad longer, I think that the runtime is reasonably appropriate for the story it was trying to tell. A scene late into the episode that sees the crew explore Adair’s house had me on the edge of my seat, really well done.
Whilst Loch Henry has some standout moments, it’s distinct lack of a Black Mirror vibe, and a frankly embarrassing performance from Dolan do drag it down the rankings of Black Mirror episodes. It’s still enjoyable, and I’d probably recommend checking it out for true crime and horror enthusiasts, but if you’re after a Black Mirror cautionary tale then you’re probably best off looking elsewhere.
I did enjoy the way the episode was put together though; it’s got some great pacing and some real standout scenes. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, and whilst it probably could have been a tad longer, I think that the runtime is reasonably appropriate for the story it was trying to tell. A scene late into the episode that sees the crew explore Adair’s house had me on the edge of my seat, really well done.
Whilst Loch Henry has some standout moments, it’s distinct lack of a Black Mirror vibe, and a frankly embarrassing performance from Dolan do drag it down the rankings of Black Mirror episodes. It’s still enjoyable, and I’d probably recommend checking it out for true crime and horror enthusiasts, but if you’re after a Black Mirror cautionary tale then you’re probably best off looking elsewhere.