DAUGHTER

SYNOPSIS: A young woman is kidnapped and inducted into a bizarre family as their new surrogate daughter. As she navigates through this twisted dynamic, awful secrets about the past are revealed, leading to even darker implications about the future.

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(L-R) Elyse Dinh as Mother, Casper Van Dien as Father, and Ian Alexander as Brother in the thriller film, DAUGHTER, a Dark Star Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Dark Star Pictures

Shot on 16mm film, DAUGHTER comes alive with a timeless 70s exploration horror look. Told in chapters, this slow-burn thriller raises questions about captivity, indoctrination, and freedom of thought. It will make you shiver.

Elyse Dinh tackles the role of “Mother.” She is the stabilizer in the family dynamic. Dinh’s chemistry with Vivien Ngô keeps you watching. Ian Alexander, whom I adored in The OA, plays “Son.” Alexander fully embodies whatever character they play, and this is no exception. There is solid potential for more of this character in the future.

Casper Van Dien is “Father.” He is unsettling from the beginning. A looming figure, he makes your skin crawl. Vivien Ngô plays “Daughter” with the complexity needed to sustain the pace. The audience is along for the ride on her shoulders. She had me constantly wondering what move might come next in the bizarre game of chess. It is a captivating turn.

The sixth chapter is a complete visual departure from the rest of the film. It’s explosive. With a beginning and ending that feels like an homage to Tobe Hooper‘s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the long-awaited finale of DAUGHTER feels spot on. Any other choice would have felt like a cop-out. DAUGHTER has the makings of a franchise if writer-director Corey Deshon can quicken the pace with this first film as canon.

Dark Star Pictures will release the thriller film DAUGHTER in select theaters, on Digital and On Demand on February 10, 2023

The thriller DAUGHTER stars an ensemble cast of Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers), Elyse Dinh (Spider-Man 2), Vivien Ngô (“Queen Sugar”), and Ian Alexander (“Star Trek: Discovery”). The film is written and directed by Corey Deshon (“A Million Little Things”).

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

From the wars we fight over our conflicting worldviews, the insane mental gymnastics we conjure in order to justify them, and the insignificance of truth in the absence of freedom, comes DAUGHTER. Shot on 16mm film with a predominantly Vietnamese cast, DAUGHTER is a uniquely diverse and genre-bending tale in the vein of Dogtoothmeets 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Inspired by feminist existentialist philosopher Simone De Beauvoir’s “The Ethics of Ambiguity,” this film is a meditation on the morality and ethics of freedom and creative expression within an oppressed system. Through this surrealist psychodrama, we seek to explore the questions, “Can one truly be free if they do not will the freedom of others? “and, “If that freedom must come at a moral cost, who is going to pay?”