Who doesn’t love them some true crime? A little too close to home, but far enough away that you’re in no real danger, tales of serial killers and salacious crimes tantalize our senses and become an addicting — but morbid — pleasure. Two women who are all too close to one of those criminals face off with him once again, but this time there’s a lot more at stake. This is The Daughters of the Domino.
A modern noir about a mother who must reunite with her estranged detective sister to find her missing teenage daughter.
The Daughters of the Domino, IMDB
After their father, infamous serial killer The Domino, is outed as a murderer and dies in prison, Nina and Laura try to live their lives outside of his sinister shadow; Nina becomes a famed detective about to finish a book on her father’s killing spree, and Laura devotes her life to her teen daughter Jules. Though well-adjusted on the outside, both women deal with inner turmoil manifesting as refusal to let go for Nina and overbearing helicopter parenting for Laura. Jules, trapped in the middle whist celebrating her 18th birthday, gets into a fight with Laura and ends up getting kidnapped. Is this the work of a copycat killer, or did the Domino return to collect his family?
Although all three of The Daughters of the Domino‘s lead ladies were fabulous, Nina (Miranda Moffat) and Laura (Lucie Gillespie) as the sisterly duo take the cake. Their banter back and forth provides some well-timed laughs as well as heart and depth of their bonded trauma. Jules’ (Ashley Poulin) Final Girl status is unquestioned as she braves the killer, just as ready to prove she’ll make it out alive as well as make it to adulthood. Really, every character we see felt real and that they had a whole world of backstory to boot. Of course, the focus was on these three women, but The Daughters of the Domino succeeded in creating a believable world filled with personalities. There were more than enough characters to choose from to project yourself onto.
I wouldn’t say that the horror of this film was in Jules’ kidnapping, or the killer’s MO. It was the underlying issues the women faced being connected with the Domino. Not only were Laura and Nina direct family members, but they also had their own experiences with their father’s ruthlessness. Jules may not have had as much time with her grandfather, but living in the shadow of the husk of a person that is her mother had to have been hard too. The Daughters of the Domino expanded further as well, with townsfolk both recognizing the women for their fathers’ crimes and even forming a minor fan club for him. It’s not unlike the crazy cases you hear about in real life.
The Daughters of the Domino is a pretty standard “kid gets kidnapped, parental figures rush to rescue them” scenario, but may surprise you here and there. Jules isn’t all she claims to be. Nina isn’t above breaking the law herself. The killer is revealed. And Laura turns everyone’s worlds upside down at the climax. This film was fun and engaging, but still held time to let the viewer do some thinking of their own and enjoy the ride.
For an Indie film, The Daughters of the Domino felt a lot bigger than it actually was. With a well-thought-out storyline, likeable characters, and twists and turns that keep viewers guessing, it is the kind of crime thriller than allows the audience to feel something other than anxiety — because serial killers can be fun and frightening.
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