In the next episode of Bad Decisions Playhouse: An Amazon presentation of a Blumhouse production of The Lie. This is one of a number of new (though originally a 2018 film) Blumhouse productions that Amazon has put their name on. I picked it at random from the Blumhouse list, hoping for a cool horror flick to end spooky season on. Too bad it wasn’t cool and it wasn’t a horror flick. It’s a psychological drama starring a bunch of dimwits dressed up as smart people.

The Lie is about a girl (played by Joey King) who, in a fit of being a teenager, pushes a friend to her death. Her parents then attempt to cover it up because she’s their daughter… an apparently sociopathic deranged daughter with rapid and wild mood swings. In very rapid succession, they are lying to the cops, the girl’s father, probably too each other and the family dog too.

No, this is not a horror movie at all. It’s an austere, self-serious, moribund flick full of desperate attempts at good acting from good actors. The movie has a strong visual style too. But it moves at a snail’s pace and desperately wants us to care for these terrible people doing and saying terrible things. Nothing wrong with a film about bad people as long as you can get behind their actions, or at least – at least – understand them. I think this movie has them repeatedly make bad choices when simpler, more logical options were left unwritten in the script.

So, yeah, it’s on Amazon Prime so maybe you take a look but I’d recommend against it. Fine actors trying to prop up a weak script is not a fun time, especially on October 30th.

Score: 66