Corey Deshon’s directorial debut, Daughter, delivers a tense yet clever way of looking at family dynamics, using social and cultural structures, keeping the characters at bay, and punishing disobedience.
The film Daughter celebrated its first glimpse of life at the Frightfest film festival in 2022, marking the feature directorial debut of Writer/Producer/Director Corey Deshon. What a perfect film to celebrate such an occasion.
The film follows a young woman kidnapped and brought into a very bizarre family setting and is expected to be a surrogate daughter. The Daughter (Vivien Ngô) will likely navigate through this twisted situation, experiencing terrible secrets from the past that are revealed, leading everyone onto a dark, sinister path of destruction.
Shot on 16 mm, Daughter delivers a grainy yet beautiful esthetic from the past that is fitting for this picture, leaving the audience not knowing exactly when the film was taking place. Father (Casper Van Dien) is outright bonkers using the outside environment as a tactic, making the family believe that going out will leave them all acceptable to contracting a deadly virus.
If someone does go out, they must be wearing a gas mask. For a brief moment, I was getting Stepfather (1987) vibes, a father wanting a specific order for his family and manipulating everyone to achieve it, which I didn’t think was terrible.
I went into this film practically blind, not watching a trailer, and I kept my distance from any buzz that might have been floating on the web; I wanted the most authentic experience possible, free of distraction and opinion.
Daughter delivered and most certainly did not disappoint. Not only did we have a fitting story, and wonderful cinematography, I felt we had good storytelling and acting to support it. There is no doubt that the viewer will quickly plunge into this petrifying world set within this house’s odd interior while listening to the father’s twisted ideas, consuming us until the end.
Sometimes the simple stories are the most terrifying, and I am sure new things can be discovered over multiple viewings of this film. The house is a prison and brings new light to kidnapping thrillers.
Daughter is now in limited release and on VOD/Digital HD.