Clifton Hill opened in theatres across the USA in February 2020, and now the true-crime thriller is on streaming platforms. (Check below for where to watch in your region.) The narrative begins with a family casually taking some lovely family photos against the Niagra Falls scenery. The youngest of the group is fixated on other things and can’t stop watching a scene unfold behind them. At 7 seeing someone being bundled into the trunk of the car is not cause for her to point or interrupt. Instead, she watches only mentioning it to her sister later that day.

Decades later an older Abbey returns for her mother’s funeral. Dealing with a plethora of issues, Abbey’s memory of the incident way back when is now brought screaming to the surface. She puts on her sleuthing hat and begins investigating. Abbey starts at the scene of the crime and meets Walter (David Cronenberg) as he emerges from the water. Walter has a podcast where he tells stories about lots of the conspiracies surrounding the town and Niagra Falls. She involves her sister alongside her husband to listen to her theories. The thing is, is that Abbey is known for being a liar, being unstable, and has been so throughout her whole life. Trying to convince people there is something to uncover is a feat unto itself.

Clifton Hill Atmospheric Tension

Clifton Hill is very much reliant on atmospheric visuals to create the borders for its tension. Despite a Twin Peaks-heavy look and feel, the story is where it all falls down. Maybe I’m a devil for the details but in solving a 20-year-old mystery, not even the locals can recall feels like there isn’t that much to find out. Her best mode of detective work once she uncovers the name of the boy she saw all those years ago, is watching archive videos of his parents. She sticky tapes some flimsy clues together and attempts to get the police to re-open the case. No one she encounters is even remotely interested, except for Walter. But his whole life is centered on the unknown and unsolved.

Performances are the glue that kept me watching Disappearance at Clifton Hill. The stories that come to light are all told well even if they are a mish-mash of moosh. Vague background details are mildly enticing. Tigers and suicide are mentioned and money is seen as a possible indication that something went awry. But by the time the real story begins to emerge, it’s still sketchy.

Woodwind and Brass

The only person still on ‘the case’ is Abbey and the details surrounding her life take a front seat to the maybe’s of the missing boy. I found myself wondering how Abbey ended up being a liar who threw a grenade into her life and caused her to be estranged from her family. I wanted to know more about her ability to lie to strangers she meets. Instead of being interested in the boy with the eyepatch in the woods, I wanted to hear more about the guy who owned the town, Charlie Lake III. I should have been more interested in his parents who are magicians. But I wasn’t.

The score in “Disappearance at Clifton Hil“l” is a combination of brass and woodwind instruments and completes the whirly nature of the narrative. Fans of films that follow this particular formula in uncovering the whodunnit will probably enjoy this a lot more than I did. I was waiting for the weirdness of the town and its people to bring the outcome I knew was there. Instead, I was treated to a choose-your-own-adventure type outcome. I was given the facts and left to decide which one I liked best. Like the rest of the film, being committed to telling at least one complete tale was not high on the agenda here.

Watch it if you love a psychological mystery to pass the time, but don’t expect too much.

I give Disappearance at Clifton Hill

2 ambiguous stories out of 5

Mother of Movies score

Where to Watch Disappearance at Clifton Hill

In Australia, Disappearance at Clifton Hill is streaming on Netflix.

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