2023 | Australia | Directed by Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell
Logline: During a violent thunderstorm a man living alone in an isolated caravan park is visited by a mysterious young woman seeking shelter, and as the night wears on, the tension between them mounts.
Every once in a while, an Aussie horror film comes along, seemingly out of nowhere, that blasts the cobwebs apart, heralding a bold and striking new talent. In the past year or so there’s been not just one of these films, but several, and, most curiously, they’ve all been helmed by a directing duo; Hannah Barlow & Kane Senes with Sissy, Danny & Michael Philippou with Talk to Me, Colin & Cameron Cairnes with Late Night with the Devil, and Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell with You’ll Never Find Me.
In Allen and Bell’s brooding, psychological chamber piece, the narrative is centred squarely upon the suspenseful interaction between Patrick (Brendan Rock), a man living a lonely existence in his surprisingly spacious caravan home in a remote part of a trailer park, and the lone woman (Jordan Cowan) who arrives at his doorstep, on an especially dark and stormy night, banging furiously, soaking wet from the thunderous rain, desperate for respite.
Patrick invites her inside, but remains guarded, as the young woman, whose name we never learn, is reluctant to spread all her cards on the caravan table, and the details of her situation keep shifting. Patrick offers the woman a shower, dry clothing, a whisky to warm the prickly cockles of her heart. But she too is wary, as she begins to dig away at the man’s psyche with pointed questions, each one probing a little deeper, as both keep their invisible shields in place, attempting to prize out the other’s intent.
Bell’s screenplay steadily ratchets up the tension, as the two players dig further in the agenda dirt, dialogue spiked, scratching at a truth that won’t reveal itself easily. But one can feel that the exposed truth, however buried, won’t be pretty, and there’ll be tears before dawn, before bedtime even.
You’ll Never Find Me (a clever play on words by movie’s end) is a two-hander in a single location, so there’s always the concern that the film may become claustrophobic, fall prey to stagey theatrics, however, You’ll Never Find Me’s greatest strength is the terrific interplay. Cowan, whose background, unsurprisingly, is in theatre commands the screen. But the look and sound of the movie is really impressive; cinematographer and camera operator Maxx Corkindale, composer Darren Lim, sound designer Duncan Campbell and sound editor Lachlan Harris, all these rich elements, and the close-up performances, provide the film with serious atmospheric, cinematic chops.
But it’s the film’s central conceit, revealing itself in the movie’s final quarter, that threatens to bring this horror house of cards crashing down. The seesawing of intrigue and suspicion has Patrick and his female visitor appearing genuinely uneasy, then cocky and assured, but the explanation for the mysteriously tenebrous perspectives may prove too contrived for some.
I didn’t see the denouement coming as early as perhaps some viewers might, so the rug-pull did surprise me, but I wasn’t entirely sold. It’s definitely not the most original ending, we’ve had this type of wool pulled over our eyes before, but Allen and Bell’s stylish study in fear and suspicion – of psychological ruin – is such a visually dynamic, compelling, and dramatic treat, that despite its nightmarish trappings, it still succeeds in spades. Make sure you see this on the big screen.