By MICHAEL GINGOLD
A documentary filmmaker confronts a legacy of evil in the supernatural chiller.
Saban Films releases SO COLD THE RIVER, based on the best-selling novel by Michael Koryta, to theaters March 25 and VOD/digital platforms March 29. Written and directed by Paul Shoulberg, it stars Bethany Joy Lenz, Katie Sarife (ANNABELLE COMES HOME), Andrew J. West, Michael J. Rogers, Kevin Cahoon, Kingston Vernes, with Alysia Reiner and Deanna Dunagan. The synopsis: “Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Erica Shaw [Lenz] is hired by Alyssa Bradford-Cohen [Reiner] to profile her dying father-in-law, the enigmatic millionaire Campbell Bradford. Erica is presented with a substantial sum of money and a relic, an antique bottle filled with water from a local spring, one of the few clues connecting Bradford to the town he once dominated. While researching Bradford as a guest of a massive, opulent resort with a dark past, Erica meets unofficial town historian Anne McKinney [Dunagan], fanatical intern Kellyn [Sarife] and hotel maintenance worker Josiah [West], a descendant of Bradford’s who reveals the familial curse of mysterious deaths and suicides. Seemingly possessed by the relic, Erica begins drinking from the antique bottle, experiencing terrifying visions and, ultimately, unleashing unspeakable evil. Can Erica make her way through the darkness or is Campbell’s evil undercurrent too strong?”
