ADIFF ’24: Lanier

Lake Lanier in Georgia is [still] named after Sidney Lanier, who was best known as a poet, but also served in the Confederate army. As hawkish conservative, it never made much sense that we have so many landmarks named after Confederates. After all, we the United States of America, kicked their butts after they violated their oaths to the Constitution and betrayed their country. It should be called Lake Sherman, because nobody did more for Atlanta’s construction companies. Regardless, the directing-screenwriting tandem of William Eric Anderson & Cindy Estenfanie Kunz-Anderson do not even have time for him. They are more concerned with the supernatural desire to avenge racial injustices of the early 20^th Century in Lanier, which screens as part of the 2024 African Diaspora International Film Festival.

The lucky Stevenson family won a weekend getaway to partake in the “Lake Lanier Experience,” a cultural event curated by Mariah Wilson’s nonprofit. As a cop, James Stevenson has a keen awareness of the number of people who go missing around the lake-area each year. Yet, he [mistakenly] assumes Wilson’s lodge is safe.

However, he takes an instant dislike to her husband, Daniel, even though he works as a CSI investigator. If anything, he should trust his instincts more, because Wilson is haunted by his grandfather, who was one of the men lynched in Oscarville, the Reconstruction-era Black community that was eventually cleared and flooded during the construction of Lake Lanier. For years, Wilson lured victims to the lake, hoping to satisfy his grandfather’s lust for blood. It is clear the Stevensons will be next, even though their daughter Kayla immediately forged a close friendship with the Wilsons’ daughter Tasha.

Anderson and Kunz-Anderson try to use the real-life haunted lore surrounding Lake Lanier and the submerged town of Oscarville to tell a socially conscious horror story. Unfortunately, they invest more time and energy making their points than in developing suspense and tension. They capture several creepy images, but that is about all they can offer horror fans. Even with a modest 73-minute running time, their pacing feels sluggish.

It is deliberately debatable who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, but everyone has one thing in common. They all make terrible decisions. It is a shame, because Jarrett Michael Collins portrays Wilson with magnetic intensity, while John M. Johnson manages to be both sinister and grandfatherly looking as his ghostly Grandpa.

Arguably, the first half hour constitutes a reasonably competent set up, but the rest is a mess. The legends of Oscarville and Lake Lanier still hold a great deal of eerie potential, which the film’s execution fails to live up to. It should have been better. Not recommended, Lanier screens tomorrow (12/4) and Thursday (12/5) during this year’s ADIFF.