Sydney Sweeney confirmed off her dramatic chops with final yr’s stable horror movie “Immaculate,” so it’s no shock she’s making an attempt to faucet into that vitality once more, this time reverse a professional like Julianne Moore, who all the time brings her A-game regardless of the standard of the mission. If solely “Echo Valley,” the automobile crafted for them by “Mare of Easttown” creator Brad Ingelsby, had somewhat extra spark and rather a lot much less separation. Sweeney performs the drug-addicted daughter of Moore’s character, who storms again into her mom’s life solely to vanish for many of the movie’s second half, simply because the proverbial shit hits the fan.
Moore is Kate, a lonely girl nonetheless reeling from an unimaginable loss. She finds solace tending to her farm in rural Pennsylvania, the place she trains and boards horses. Her routines and a budding friendship along with her neighbor Jessie (Fiona Shaw) provide small comforts. However the one relationship Kate clings to, regardless of her ex-husband’s (Kyle MacLachlan) insistence she let go, is along with her daughter Claire (Sweeney), a lovely however troubled soul who solely turns up when she wants one thing.
That fragile bond is put to the take a look at when Claire returns residence one night time with another person’s blood on her shirt, and a shady, menacing vendor (Domhnall Gleeson, performing circles round an underwritten position) scorching on her path. Issues go sideways quick. As Kate scrambles to maintain the police at bay, the query looms: how far will she go to guard her daughter?
Directed by Michael Pearce, “Echo Valley” provides up placing photos of the agricultural countryside and an interesting, quietly menacing flip from Gleeson, who walks off with the present. Sweeney, to her credit score, delivers a number of chilling moments the place Claire’s habit reaches terrifying heights. The issue is, we would like extra of her and Moore collectively. As an alternative, the movie makes the odd option to separate them for nearly your complete second half, lacking a chance to let their fractured bond drive the stress and in the end confront Gleeson’s menace.
All of it builds to an overwrought finale, capped by a twist so far-fetched it shatters any sense of plausibility. That’s a shock coming from the thoughts behind one of many higher cop dramas of latest years with “Mare of Easttown.” The forged does what it could with the fabric, however ultimately, “Echo Valley” turns into too convoluted and foolish for its personal good.
ECHO VALLEY is now steaming on Apple TV+