Claustrophobic thrillers in a post-COVID world often encapsulates themes that hit too close to home.
Corey Deshon’s Daughter takes entrapment and goes to some dark places and is, while being engrossing, downright bleak.
We follow a young girl who is kidnapped and ‘integrated’ into a nuclear family, who may not have her best intentions at heart.
She is effectively a prisoner in their home, but during her stay, she starts to sow the seeds of doubt amongst the family and plan her escape.
Genre fans will recognise Casper Van Dien from the classic Starship Troopers, but here he is much more restrained as a doomsday-planning, religious father who desperately wants to keep his ‘family’ together at all costs.
Daughter is very much a slow-burn horror, but once it decides to cut loose the results can be harrowing.
It does drip feed in commentary on the pandemic but also about religious fanaticism, another timely theme in the modern world.
Daughter is a gripping watch, but whether it has rewatch value is debatable.
Daughter is released on 20 February 2023 on digital platforms from Lightbulb Film Distribution.
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