There are echoes of the Turpin case and Josef Fritzl’s basement in this tense arthouse horror shot in grainy 16mm with auteurish confidence by first-time film-maker Corey Deshon. It opens with a claim to be “more based on fact than fiction”, but actually tells an entirely fictional story about the kidnapping of a young woman (Vivien Ngô) who wakes up shackled to the floor in a garage. In front of her stands a man known only as Father (Casper Van Dien). You can tell instantly from his plaid checked shirt, beige slacks and straight-backed posture that he’s the type of Christian you don’t mess with in a horror movie: wholesome looking, but unhinged.
“We’re not violent people,” Father tells the chained-up woman, sounding almost reasonable. It’s not true. In a disturbing, disorientating scene over the opening credits we’ve just watched him in a gas mask chase down another young woman and bludgeon her to death. This new woman is her replacement, kidnapped by Father to be a big sister to his son, Brother (Ian Alexander), a frail boy of about 11. Brother has been raised in isolation, taught that air in the outside world is toxic. Rounding off the creepy family is Mother played with brilliant slyness by Elyse Dinh: is she a quietly submissive wife, or just giving a good performance?
At points I wondered if this is a film that tells us anything about anything. Some of its ideas feel a bit thrown together. There are no firm clues as to Father’s motives: he comes across as a man who’d like to have been an authoritarian cult leader if only he had the necessary charisma. But other characters feel a bit under-written – particularly Brother, who we sense is eager to please his dad, and possibly his successor.
• Daughter is released on 20 February on digital platforms.
