Slow-burn thrillers have become almost a go-to subgenre in the indie movie scene, and director couple Jaron and Olivia Lanier’s feature, Haunted By Her Name, is a strong entry into the category. However, limiting this movie to a specific classification would be doing a disservice to it, given how varied and vivid its narrative treatment is. Haunted By Her Name simultaneously plays out as a psychological horror, outdoor drama, and slice-of-life story—acting almost like a confluence of several styles of storytelling. Beautiful camerawork, brilliant background scores, taut characterization, and strong acting performances allow an immersive experience into which viewers get drawn rather easily. The only glaring drawback, which I felt somewhat hampers this otherwise memorable cinematic experience, is the denouement, which veers towards thriller elements and sticks out like a sore thumb.
Spoilers Ahead
Jaron Returns From A Funeral
Haunted By Her Name opens with a chilling scene: a woman is seen moving towards the edge of a waterfront, jumping into the water, and returning back to shore sometime later; however, soon as she climbs back to the bank, another presence appears in front of her and forcibly taking her along, jumps into the water. The fixed camera set up for this sequence makes the scene quite impactful and tense. The scene cuts to focus on the present life of Jaron, who is returning to his family in Kansas City riding his camper van after attending the funeral of his ex-girlfriend, Bridget, in Washington. Jaron and Bridget were in a relationship for a year, until Bridget inexplicably dumped Jaron and completely ghosted him six weeks ago. Jaron was informed by the authorities that Bridget breathed her last under mysterious circumstances after drowning herself in Lake Washington, and a note was recovered from her that implied someone had been troubling her. Bridget loved the nomadic camper lifestyle, and back when she and Jaron were together, she helped Jaron to get accustomed to this life. Now that she is gone, Jaron is reminded of her as he drives the van on his way back home and spends nights inside of it. However, Bridget might have left a bit too much of herself with Jaron, as he sees haunting apparitions of his ex-girlfriend quite often at night and feels an unearthly presence outside the camping van quite often. Jaron gets further freaked out after he continues getting texts from her number and sees memories of Bridget manifesting around him very vividly. It goes beyond saying that Jaron is quite troubled by experiences such as these, and the fact that he is quite a lonesome guy with no one to share his burdens with makes the situation even more miserable for him.Â
Jaron Opens Up To Judah
After Jaron’s van breaks down, he is stranded on the roadside and compelled to ask for help from vehicles passing by. He gets a response pretty soon, as Judah, a chirpy, quirky guy riding alone in his own camper van, stops by. While Jaron asks Judah to provide numbers for a towing company or repair service, Judah implores him to join him at a nearby campsite to spend the night, saying he will arrange necessary means the next day. Using a tow hitch, Judah takes Jaron’s van to the campsite. Jaron learns that Judah shares a common hobby with him of playing guitar, and at present is heading to Seattle to perform at a local establishment. Initially, Jaron remains distant, keeping engagement with an overly enthusiastic Judah to a minimum, and Jaron’s reserved, reticent demeanor only allows small talk between the duo. However, at night, Jaron once again hallucinates Bridget’s presence, and this time he himself becomes eager to keep himself engaged in Judah’s company. Judah, who has taken a look at the issues with Jaron’s van, offers to help him fix it up with the help of one of his known mechanics the next day, in exchange for some cash, and warns him going to conventional garage repair will cost him a rather large sum. Jaron accepts Judah’s proposal, and the duo connect over a jam session together.
At night, the duo grow a strong bond sharing a campfire, as Judah shares a lot about himself, his past trauma, and his insecurities. Jaron is surprised to learn that Judah shares his birthday with him, which is just the next day. Judah’s past. growing up with an abusive father, losing his mother at a young age, and his simplistic worldview allow Jaron to have a sympathetic perspective towards him, and being able to trust him, Jaron shares his woes and his recent traumas with him. In his own way, Judah advises Jaron to find acceptance and move on, which will stop the haunting visions he is having of Bridget. Surprisingly enough, Judah’s advice works, as at night Jaron is able to have a good sleep for the first time in a long time. The next day, Judah shares that the mechanic has already fixed Jaron’s van while he was sleeping, and after Jaron pays him for the repair, Judah prepares to take his leave. Before beginning his journey to Seattle, Judah celebrates his and Jaron’s birthday with a thin slice of cake and cigarettes—and vaguely mentions his wish for Jaron to join him in Seattle. After Judah leaves, Jaron spends a day at the campsite; within the span of a day, he has gotten quite fond of his new buddy, and after spending another trouble-less night, he is kind of convinced that Judah’s presence helped him to get over his haunting visions, which were a reflection of his psychological troubles. Instead of going home, Jaron drives to Seattle to meet Judah, who is surprised and excited to see him arrive.
Did Jaron Find Peace?
Up to this point, the movie had a decent run and felt appealing and moody, like a wholesome buddy drama in its own way. However, the narrative twist in the final act of the movie completely derails the plot progression. At night, Jaron once again gets haunted by Bridget’s apparition, and the propane gas heater inside the van springs a leak, leading to Jaron getting asphyxiated. Judah arrives outside his van, and the truth behind the entirety of the situation is revealed moments later, as Judah brings a captive Jaron near the waterfront where Bridget had died. Judah was Bridget’s possessive ex-boyfriend, and Bridget left him for Jaron while still being pregnant with his twin. Bridget aborted her unborn children, much to Judah’s dismay, and spent a year as Jaron’s girlfriend until Judah walked back to her life—and she has ghosted Jaron since that point. After Bridget met her end under mysterious circumstances, presumably at Judah’s hands, he made a meticulous plan to terrorize Jaron and joined hands with Bridget’s twin sister, who felt betrayed after her sister shut her off ever since getting into a relationship with Jaron. However, Bridget’s twin ends up fatally stabbing Judah before going on to take revenge from Jaron, whom she believes to be the reason for her separation from her sister. Jaron pleads for his life, and another twist follows as Judah kills Bridget’s twin, saving Jaron in the process. Perhaps he too had grown fond of Jaron in the process of enacting his prolonged revenge by gaining his trust.
Leaving a deceased Judah and Bridget’s twin at the edge of the waterfront, Jaron takes Judah’s camping van, where he finds a captive, unconscious Bridget in the backseat. Jaron drives away with an unconscious Bridget, and whether she is a figment of his imagination remains unknown till the end. The convoluted ending takes away much of the charm from the story, which is a shame considering how well-crafted the rest of the movie is.
