I read that book, cover to cover. I just absorbed it. And I went a deep dive into YouTube videos and interviews with people from that island. So I can understand the mentality, because this character and these people are very specific. The way Mike and his writing team wrote them is very specific. How do you feel about the reported reboot of Battlestar Galactica? [Trucco played Samuel T. Anders in the acclaimed 2000s sci-fi series.] Flanagan and production partner Trevor Macy have the ‘Midas touch’ when it comes to creating films and TV series, he says, ‘and as an actor you dream about a scenario where you can be in a creative circle like that’.

Michael Trucco: This did not feel like her freshman effort at all. She’s extremely comfortable behind the camera. She’s really comfortable with her with her cast and crew. And that’s the sign of a good leader. I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do next. Because if this is her directorial debut, we’re in for some good things from Lauren. Call me simple, but a jumpscare. I love a great sting: loud music, loud noise and in the moment you don’t expect it. That’s the dopamine that I seek out when I’m seeing a horror show. As a small town mystery and a psychological thriller, the film does little wrong, although this is arguably because it rarely sets foot into new territory. In the places where innovations are attempted, these often feel mismanaged. The ones that work are underutilised, whilst the ones that do not are downright ineffective. When a teenage girl goes missing Charlie is convinced the two incidents are somehow linked and embarks on her own investigation, with help from with story-hungry journalist Amy (Shanola Hampton). But that has happened to other limited series that have had some degree of success: it was meant to be a one-off but there was so much demand for it.’Like director Mike Flanagan, you went to Catholic school. Did that help you understand Midnight Mass? Charlie ( Robyn Lively, Twin Peaks) is convinced that there is a connection between her own missing daughter and another girl’s disappearance. Something is happening to the girls in Elrod, Georgia and Charlie won’t stop searching for the truth. Damn the consequences.

This is a really fascinating time in media and entertainment. In the last five years, the channels, the explosion of entertainment, and avenues for new content to appear, are endless. That’s created a whole bunch of noise. So for anything to rise above the din, to capture the attention, to be talked about, is such a gift.

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Though there’s perhaps a few too many “missing kid mystery” tropes adhered to in Disappearance at Lake Elrod– the grieving mother, the potentially corrupt police, the buried secrets coming to life – writer/director Lauren Fash injects enough character development and psychological complexity for it to get away with it. There is, however, only so much forgiveness you can extend to a genre film that is striving to deliver a decent little thriller. It’s happening again for this grieving mother and she steps completely out of her comfort zone to make sure that what started with her own daughter, ends with the latest abduction. The town might think she’s crazy and a pain in the police department’s ass, but she’s not wrong. Just look at the evidence and she is taking her message to the masses. When it comes to twists and turns, some feel predictable although some are genuinely surprising. Meanwhile, some narrative developments and information pieces are quite unclear. Frequent contrivances do little to help. Narrative developments rarely feel natural or unforced, with information appearing exactly as and when it is needed. For the most part, the story unfolds from one place to the next. Consequently, character and narrative struggles never come across like realistic struggles, since they never last for long and we are never given a sense that the uncovering of vital information is difficult. And yet, the rallying cry that “we are close” towards the finale seems almost laughable when Amy proceeds to suggest an almost random person from the town. Verdict

The film was shot entirely in the state of Georgia in a charming little town called Ellijay in the northern part of the state. And you’re right, the location is part and parcel to the story. It becomes almost a character in the film. It’s so important to storytelling that the location be authentic and reflect the mood and tone of the script. It’s really quite a beautiful part of the country, and being somewhat isolated in a small town helped inform the ‘southern’ setting of the characters. I did stay in a small hotel just outside of Ellijay for the duration of the shoot. It was only a couple of weeks, so it wasn’t a conventional “relocation” for me.The film really needed more invention, an issue accentuated by the poorly handled left turn it takes half-way through. Lauren Fash’s debut feature, Disappearance at Lake Elrod takes us to the small, sleepy American town of Elrod, Georgia. Here, we meet Charlie (Robyn Lively), a woman who takes medication and drinks at the local bar as a means of coping with the pent-up anger and grief that she has endured for the past year following the disappearance of her daughter, Lily (Kinsley Isla Dillon). During that time, her relationship with her partner Angela (Bethany Anne Lind) has deteriorated significantly as a result. When alibis don’t hold up and connections are too secure to deny, Charlie has no choice but to take matters into her own hands and risk it all. She goes to friends with her truth. She goes to foes. No one is to be trusted. Not in Elrod.Full of great performances and a chilling vibe throughout (reminiscent of Winter’s Bone), this mystery takes one mother through endless nights full of shaky social terrains where promises aren’t kept and a family’s name offers more fortitude than their actions.

As for the awkward let’s-explain-everything-in-one-scene climax, the stumblebum exposition might just have you rolling your eyes, thinking that the film might also be suffering from some critical miscasting.As well as horror, you’re well known for comedy roles on the likes of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory. Which is hardest to pull off? Is it harder to make people laugh or scare them? Midnight Mass has been a huge hit since it came out last month. How has that rollercoaster been for you? Set in a small southern town in Georgia – that American state where local law mandates that everybody speaks with a twang – a bedraggled mother staples a home-made missing person poster onto a pole. You can overlook the odd flub but once clues literally start jumping out in front of our DIY detectives you really have to wonder whether the narrative needed more work. Contrivance is one thing, but what happens here is a step beyond and it makes the whole shebang just too hard to swallow.