Lyvia’s House Review: Crime Thriller or Soap Opera?

Lyvia’s House is a crime thriller with such a strange mix of competent and terrible decisions that it often more closely resembles a daytime soap opera.

It sometimes works as the crime thriller it’s trying to be and just as often resembles a bad soap opera. If that brief synopsis of my opinions is messy to you, then wait until you actually see the movie itself.

Tara Nichol Caldwell and Joshua Malekos star as Tara Manning and Johnny Beers, a couple who have moved into the former home of Lyvia Ricci (also played by Tara Nichol Caldwell). Lyvia disappeared months prior, and when Tara begins learning tales of an infamous killer that haunted the town years before, she starts questioning not only the connection between these mysterious events, but her own seemingly spiraling mental state. Apparently, Lyvia’s House is based on true events, but I know nothing about what really happened nor how well it’s represented here … I don’t think that matters too much, though. If you’re looking for problems with this movie, you don’t need to scrutinize its historical accuracy to find them.

I can only think to start with what stood out first and foremost while watching the film, and that’s the performances. Most of them are very hit-and-miss, which I can blame on a few factors. One of which is, sadly, the actors themselves. No one is outright terrible, but a lot of line deliveries sound like first takes or, like I mentioned, a cheap daytime soap opera, which leads to just the right amount of awkwardness to be humorous across the board. Joshua Malekos gets the biggest laughs for the wrong reasons with how consistently flat he is, no matter what situation he’s reacting to.

Another source of blame could be that the lines themselves are often just as stiff and straight-up silly, despite trying so hard to sound natural. Some gems I wrote down include, “I always assumed farms were such peaceful places,” and my personal favorite, “Holy sh*t! Those are cows!” Making matters worse is the status of Lyvia’s House as one of the most overscored films I’ve ever seen. The music is fine on its own, but roughly 99% of this movie has a prominent score, some licensed song playing in the background, or both at once. I promise that I’m not hyperbolizing. It’s equal parts maddening and hilarious, making the already melodramatic acting and writing even campier.

Then there are things that make Lyvia’s House feel genuinely unfinished. For example, there’s a sequence in which Tara and her friend Mary Ann (Ann Marie Gideon) get into a truck to drive somewhere. In the very next cut, Tara is completely alone in that truck to follow someone, she gets some information … and then we cut back to her and Mary Ann for the drive we saw them about to begin. In another scene in a bar, there’s a single cut to some shadowy woman sitting behind other characters who was clearly not there in the previous cut and isn’t seen again … This has no bearing on anything and makes no sense continuity-wise.

During a flashback, over which Mary Ann provides some narration, the sound quality of her dialogue goes back and forth between how it normally sounds and weirdly garbled, like it was recorded somewhere completely different. I don’t mean that it changes for the flashback; it switches up within the flashback! I had to rewind because I thought my computer had glitched out or something! Lyvia’s House was in film festivals dating back to 2021, so it’s not like I got a rough cut. It just … is that way, for reasons I don’t think I’ll ever understand but will have fun not understanding.

So wow, this sounds like one of the worst movies you could ever see, doesn’t it? Well, for about half of it, I thought it would be. But then Lyvia’s House finally gets into the thick of its plot … about 55 minutes in. From there, the film picks up and becomes … well, maybe not good, but decently entertaining for the right reasons. The story itself isn’t some mind-blowing masterpiece, but it’s genuinely engaging with the twists and turns it takes on as the mystery is slowly unraveled. Regardless of the film’s overall quality, I still wanted to know what was going on. Even the performances and editing step up once there’s more meat for the film and actors to chew on, with Malekos in particular suddenly going from the weakest actor to the strongest in the climax (despite some goofy lines still persisting).

On top of that, the cinematography from Cody Martin is the one element of the film that functions well from start to finish. Every shot is at worst functional and at best cinematically eerie, including a nice array of creeping pans, creative framing choices like a portrait of Lyvia gazing next to the shadows of our leads, and a great extended shot of the main couple debating on other sides of a dark hallway that makes their distance of a few feet feel like miles. The climax even takes some liberties by having a sunset turn the whole inside of the titular house an ominous shade of red … I don’t think lighting works that way, but it looks cool so screw it. If nothing else, Lyvia’s House is always interesting visually.

So … yeah, Lyvia’s House is all over the place in pretty much every way. It starts out almost uniformly messy, and then it gradually works its way up to decent status, jumping over many fundamental hurdles and dysfunctions the entire way there. The one thing I can say about the entire package is that it’s always, at the very least, fun to watch. Sometimes for good reasons, and more often for ironic reasons, but entertaining is still entertaining. To me, that speaks to the passion that was very clearly behind the film.

As I always hope goes without saying, none of the negativity in my reviews comes from a place of malice or disrespect, especially when it comes to small-budget indie films like this. People came together to express themselves through film, something I would never be able to do. But I need to be honest, and I can’t ignore the many issues that muddle so much of Lyvia’s House. If I were to recommend it, it would have to be for those who are in the mood for a mix of legitimately good suspense and choices that are fun to be confused by. If you’re part of that very specific crowd, then sure, you might get something out of it.

Lyvia’s House will be released on digital platforms on October 1, 2024.