Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic.

I get offered a lot of random titles looking for coverage. I vaguely remember being offered this film in the middle of awards season, which is a terrible time for every little film. Not only are there a ton of new films, but Oscar qualifying runs, and studios sending us complete slates of films for consideration. If you are a tiny film in November or December, you should send links in October. No later. So, after this film dropped in December, it returned to me.

Why has no one written or reviewed this? Not literally no one, but it has no reviews on Metacritic, and is vacant on Rotten Tomatoes as well. So, me, the most niche film critic, boldly stepping in to try and give this film a voice, I’m the guy? Where are all the other critics, and whaat are they doing? This film, as of this post, has 28 votes on IMDb. It has been available on VOD for over a month. this is why critics matter, and why when a film says “for coverage purposes”, because some films just simply need a mention.

That’s all I can really do for this Appalachian gothic mystery, which features two small town cops faced with a crime they must investigate which will mess with the fabric of their town, and possibly their own sanity. There really isn’t enough dialogue here to support in terms of me not having audio description, and I have yet to see Quiver mess with audio description.

I should not be the lone voice, or nearly the lone voice on this. But, I also feel like by passing on it myself, I’m giving in to the perpetual problem of only reviewing things that get us views, likes, and subscribes. too many critics wouldn’t ever think to use their platforms, and those who are on assignment, likely aren’t being told to watch this. That doesn’t mean we need to pretend it doesn’t exist, just like the bevy of independent films that are made every year. Not everyone gets a huge distributor. Some get Quiver, and have to fend for themselves.

If this was a review, it would be rotten, because I’m blind, and I can’t really tell you the plot of this film. there isn’t enough here to really dig in with. I loved the music, especially the song over the credits. I think one of the leads is doing a really obvious fake accent, and the scene with the mom going to get her son was fun to follow for a second. I’m grasping at straws, unable to coherently review this, and I could be angry about accessibility, but with no one else paying attention, I’d rather just use this space to acknowledge its existence.

if you are sighted, and don’t require audio description, pop over to YouTube and check out their trailer. The film might be for you.This could end up on a streaming service for you to watch. I hope it gets just a little more attention, because so many hands go into making a film, I would never want one to totally drown. Unless it is hate propaganda, even a film I didn’t like still had a bunch of below the line people who worked on gaffing, sound design, set decoration, or any number of tasks performed. I hate saying a film has no value for that very reason, but I also can’t endorse this. from my niche perspective, it is too hard to follow to toss a fresh rating, and I also don’t want to be the lone rotten score. I understand how the Tomatometer works, and if I thought my review would change it from No Score Yet to an actual score, I would. but, this isn’t even close. theoretically, if this film had nine Fresh reviews, my 1 rotten would still give it a solid 90% Fresh.

So this is my gift. Even before my vision loss, I didn’t get into films to tear them down, but to instead lift up the ones I loved, and fight for the underdogs others didn’t like. I’m keeping that little spark here, offering this film a search result, and to anyone who reads this a chance to check out the trailer for Down River. it isn’t a superhero film, a sequel, a remake, or a live action adaptation of an animated movie. It is an independent film with no one you’ve heard of, and that doesn’t mean it lacks value.

I do wish it had audio description, and perhaps the next film produced by this team will.