The Lie (2018 film)

Divorced father Jay drives his daughter Kayla to a ballet retreat. On the way, they find Kayla's best friend, Britney, on the side of the road, and give her a lift to the same retreat. After pulling over so Britney can go to the bathroom in the woods, Jay hears Kayla scream and finds her sitting alone on a bridge over a river. Kayla claims she pushed Britney off the bridge. Jay checks the area for Britney's body, but does not find it and assumes she drowned and was washed away. Kayla finds Britney’s purse and they go to see her mother, Rebecca.

At Rebecca's home, Kayla tells her that she murdered Britney. Britney’s father, Sam, arrives in search for his daughter. When he asks to speak to Kayla, Rebecca lies, saying she is at the doctor. Later on, Sam gets suspicious and returns to discover that Rebecca lied and Kayla is at home. After a physical altercation with Jay, Sam threatens to go to the police. Rebecca contacts a police associate, Detective Kenji Tagata, to accuse Sam of abusing Brittney. When Kenji interrogates Sam, he denies hitting Britney and notifies him about her disappearance. Kenji interviews Kayla, who says that Sam has a bad temper and hit Britney before.

Sam spots Kayla outside Jay's apartment and tries to grab her, but she retreats back into the house. Jay and Rebecca try to bury Britney’s phone behind Sam's house, but he catches them in the act. Before they flee, Sam tells them that he knows Kayla killed Britney. When Sam appears in front of their car, Rebecca purposefully drives into him. Jay and Rebecca consider calling for help before letting him bleed to death and leaving his corpse in the road.

The next morning, as Jay and Rebecca scrub Sam's blood off her car, Britney appears, alive and well, looking for Kayla. Brittney admits her disappearance was a ruse between her and Kayla to allow for Brittney to visit her boyfriend. Britney becomes uncomfortable and leaves after noticing a bloodied rag, and their suspicious reactions. Jay and Rebecca confront Kayla, who tearfully admits that she went along with Britney’s plan, and escalated the lie by pretending to "push" Britney off the bridge, hoping the pseudo-tragedy would bring her divorced parents back together. As the family embrace and Kayla begs her parents not to leave her, the doorbell rings and incoming police sirens are heard.

Principal photography on the film began in January 2018.[6] Its working title was Between the Earth and the Sky.[5] The film is set in Canada[7] and shot in the Toronto area.[8]

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2018.[1] In August 2020, Amazon Studios acquired distribution rights to the film, and premiered it on October 6, 2020. Along with Black Box, it's one of the first two movies released from Blumhouse Productions's 8-film anthology Welcome to the Blumhouse.[9]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 43% based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 5.10/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Queasily compelling without ever truly coming together, The Lie won't fool many viewers seeking worthwhile horror fare."[10] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[11]

• The Lie at IMDb