You'll Never Find Me [Tribeca Film Festival Review]

by Mike McGranaghan

For an hour, You’ll Never Find Me is the slowest slow-burn horror movie this side of Skinamarink. If you can have a little patience, this moody and mysterious Australian import does take you somewhere disturbing in the final 35 minutes. It’s a two-person story, set in a single confined location. Everything you see in the first two acts pays off in the third. The film will appeal most to viewers who appreciate mood and tone more than blood and gore (although there is some of that, too).

Patrick (Brendan Rock) lives in a trailer park. He sits alone, seemingly depressed and lonely. During a raging storm, there is a knock on his door. A woman, credited solely as “The Visitor” (Jordan Cowan), claims her car broke down and she needs to use the phone. Patrick invites her in, offers her a drink, and encourages her to dry her soaking wet shirt on his heater. Then he drops the bombshell that the only phone nearby is a payphone in a different part of the trailer park. She, meanwhile, roots through some of his belongings and weaves a story about why she’s roaming around in the middle of the night.

You get the sense one of them is dangerous, but you can’t tell who. On one hand, Patrick seems a little creepy in how he continually pressures his guest to not leave. On the other, it does seem odd that the Visitor shows up the way she does. Her story contradicts itself. Suspense is built from trying to guess which person should be afraid for their life. The answer becomes clear in a shocking moment that springs the story to full, horrific life.

Directors Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell shoot You’ll Never Find Me so that simple actions like stirring a pot and everyday objects like a drinking glass take on an ominous quality. They’ll cut to an abrupt close-up or use lighting techniques to create a sense of menace. Sound is equally important in setting the ambiance. Whipping wind and pounding rain are constantly able to be heard underneath the dialogue, underlining that the characters are essentially trapped in that trailer because going outside would be futile.

Rock’s performance is a tad one-note, all mournful whispers and suspicious looks. Cowan hits a better balance of making you wonder what her character’s deal is. When you find out, she impressively sells the necessary emotions. Again, You’ll Never Find Me has an intentionally languid pace, so you have to be willing to settle into the atmosphere for a while before you get to the full horror. Allen and Bell show a lot of ambition with this film, and it will be interesting to see where they go in the future.

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