HBO’s M. Night Shyamalan-produced horror movie gets new creepy trailer and it looks like Lake Mungo meets The Vanishing

HBO’s upcoming horror movie produced by legendary director M. Night Shyamalan has just got its first full trailer, and it looks just as creepy and offputting as the producer’s earlier work. 

The trailer for Caddo Lake opens with Sharp Objects’ Eliza Scanlen taking a little girl out on a boat through a swampy area when the girl says, “Did you know that the Caddos is actually 25,000 football fields big?” The next few clips give us a sneak peek at the small town and it is clear that between Paris’ (Dylan O Brien) mother drowning in the lake to his dog barking nervously at the water, the swamp holds a chilling secret. Before we know it, the little girl from the start of the trailer goes missing and panic ensues throughout the small community. But through strange items turning up to people seemingly slipping through time, it doesn’t look like this is a straightforward missing case. Watch the full clip below.

The official synopsis from streaming service Max, formerly HBO Max, reads: “When an eight-year-old girl mysteriously vanishes, a series of past deaths and disappearances start to link together, forever altering a broken family’s history.” Alongside Maze Runner’s O’Brien and Scanlen, the cast also includes Diana Hopper, Caroline Falk, Sam Hennings, Eric Lange, and Lauren Ambrose.

At first glance, the movie looks like a mix of classic kidnapping tales such as The Vanishing or Gone Baby Gone, mixed with one of the best found footage horror movies, Lake Mungo. We can also see a bit of Shyamalan’s earlier work in there too like The Village in the sense that everything is not as it seems in the close-knit community and dark secrets are most likely being kept at bay.

But however creepy the film may look, the inspiration behind the chilling story actually came from a very real place. After filmmakers came across a photograph of the real Caddo Lake online, they decided to visit the cypress forest that rests on the border of Texas and Louisiana. There the team got the idea to base a creepy tale of vanishment and mystery around it.

Caddo Lake is written and directed by filmmaking duo Celine Held and Logan George. It is produced by Suspiria’s Josh Godfrey, Kara Durrett, and of course Shyamalan alongside his long-time producing partner Ashwin Rajan.

Caddo Lake premieres on Max on October 10. For more, see our list of the best horror movies, or keep up to date with upcoming horror movies heading your way.