Lianne (2022)- Well done indie Canadian horror film where influencer Erin is convinced by her followers to stay alone in a haunted house to raise money for the fight against cancer after her stepsister, Lianne’s death.
The “gimmick” here is that she’s broadcasting live throughout the film and narrating the tale as it’s happening.
It works well because lead Jessica Chin King is a quality young actress who is convincing in the role and carries the film as she’s in every scene and has a ton of dialogue to handle. And there’s a nice slow build where you get to know and care about her and the other characters. A minor distraction is that you see “live comments” from the viewers on the bottom of the left-hand side of the screen as she’s broadcasting. And each time you get curious and start to read them, you miss bits of her ongoing narration. So it’s far more effective when she’s responding to the running commentary as she’s doing the reading for us.
As Erin enters the house with Lianne in an urn (aka “Li-Urn”), effective cinematography and music build tension; the joint is legit creepy, and it’s all reminiscent of old-school haunted house flick gems. We’re thirty minutes in, and kudos to director Steve Haining and writer Adam Kolodny for not cheapening it with scares just for the sake of them. At this point, we’re invested in the story and feel Erin’s anxiety.
One minor qualm- I wish the screenwriter relied less on cursing throughout, which doesn’t substitute for great dialogue. “I may shit myself” isn’t exactly profound. Nonetheless, Erin feels real, and you’re “all in.”
A twist ending works, as does the film as a whole. Shot on a shoestring, Lianne is quality horror that doesn’t need tons of gore or CGI to work and instead relies on legit acting chops and skilled filmmaking.
Kudos to all involved.

Lianne is available for viewing on Amazon Prime

Evan Ginzburg is a published author and was an Associate Producer on the Oscar-nominated movie “The Wrestler,” starring Mickey Rourke, and “350 Days,” with Bret Hart and Superstar Billy Graham. He is a 30-plus-year film, radio, and TV veteran and a voice-over actor on the radio drama Kings of the Ring.