So Cold the River

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K Phenomenal score. Suspense kept me on the edge of my seat. Time goes by quickly as you try to figure out the movie. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/29/22 Full Review Craig B Overall, a well acted movie. Fairly creepy at times and kept you guessing where it was all going to end up. However, I just found the story a tad incoherent which detracted from the overall quality of the movie. Some will like it, some won't... I'm on the fence for his one. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 10/30/24 Full Review brad p So Cold the River is visually stunning but never delivers the goods. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member So awful this movie. I should preface this by saying that I have read the book. I also grew up in southern Indiana. I *wanted* to love this movie. This movie was so different than the plot of the book. For example, the book had a plot and the movie did not. Every ounce of interesting plot and subplot was removed. Everything that was added was terrible. The writing was awful. The acting was awful. The directing was even worse. The cinematography was…well, awful. The only similarity between the book and the movie was the hotel, character names (although many of their genders and ethnicities had been changed), and a scene with dynamite. If I could leave zero stars I would. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 08/05/22 Full Review Audience Member I am a frequent visitor to French Lick and West Baden, my first visit was back in 2003 before there was a casino and before they renovated the West Baden hotel, it was still a crumbling mess. I read the book a few year ago and really loved it. I love the history of the area and it's ghost stories. The only thing that was good about this movie was the setting. It had very little in common with the story in the book other than a few similar names and a handful of scenes. They left out everything that was good about the book, everything that tied the story together. The movie was very hard to follow, so confusing that it made no sense, even though I knew what it was supposed to be about. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I REALLY wanted to like this movie, so much that I bought it and now I wish I hadn't. I won't ever watch it again. This was a huge disappointment. If you like the setting and the hint of a plot that the movie showed for a few brief minutes, definitely read the book. Now I need to go re-read it to get the awful experience of watching that movie out of my brain. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member TL;DR - This movie is a major flop with no respect for the original source material. Character adaptations were awful, story line butchered, and way too many plot holes. Don't waste your time. This movie was extremely disappointing from the terrible acting to the butcher job the producers did to the story line. As someone who loved the book which provides so much groundwork and source material, I expected more from the film. Instead, you get massive plot holes, very little background about what is actually happening, and a so-poorly condensed story that it just falls flat. I would not expect the movie to be 3 hours long to try and fit every detail in, that's unrealistic and I understand the need to condense information and eliminate other parts to make it a reasonable length film. However, this adaptation went too far, sacrificing important detail for a cheap attempt at making the story scarier or more thrilling. In reality, it made the protagonist very unlikeable, the antagonists somewhat likeable, and seemed to give Koryta's source material from the book a big middle finger. What's also more frustrating is the elimination of a strong black character, Kellen, who plays a key role throughout the book and provides very interesting historical background about West Baden and French Lick during prohibition and Jim Crow. Even if that history is fictional it adds to the depth of the story and was an integral part in understanding the evil nature of Campbell Bradford. Changing characters' genders and names is fine. Completely eliminating strong characters or color to make room for emo white girls is not fine. Perhaps the only redeeming quality of this film was that it was filmed on-site at the iconic West Baden Springs resort. It would be impossible to try and recreate those sets or use another filming location because the hotel's history and prominence is so well known. All-in-all, it's fair to say I'm extremely disappointed in this film and would definitely say it's rotten. Not worth the time to watch. If you read the book, you'll be irate at how badly they butchered the story. If you didn't read the book, you'll be confused most of the time because there are so many plot holes and the new story line leaves out incredibly useful details. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews

So Cold the River

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