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Loch Henry

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"Loch Henry"
Black Mirror episode
Promotional poster
Episode no.Series 6
Episode 2
Directed bySam Miller
Written byCharlie Brooker
Original air date15 June 2023 (2023-06-15)
Running time54 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"Loch Henry" is the second episode of the sixth series of the anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by Sam Miller. The episode was released on Netflix, along with the rest of series six, on 15 June 2023.

The episode follows a young couple, Davis and Pia, film students making a true crime documentary in Davis's hometown in rural Scotland.

It is loosely based on real-life crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer and/or John Wayne Gacy.[1]

Plot

Film students Davis and Pia – who are dating – visit Davis' widowed mother Janet in his hometown of Loch Henry, Scotland, intending to film a documentary about a local conservationist. They visit the struggling pub owned by the family of his childhood friend Stuart, who tells Pia the story of Iain Adair, a local man who tortured and murdered tourists in the 1990s, precipitating the town's decline. Davis's father Kenneth, a policeman, was Adair's last victim, injured before the killer shot his own family and himself; Kenneth died of a hospital-acquired infection.

Pia proposes making a "true crime" documentary about Adair instead. Davis initially declines, but changes his mind when Stuart and Janet offer their support. Davis, Pia, and Stuart break into Adair's abandoned home and explore the basement where Adair tortured his victims, recording old-style video footage over Janet's old tapes of the TV series Bergerac. On the ride home, Davis accidentally crashes their vehicle, requiring an overnight hospital stay. Stuart's alcoholic father Richard is also there, recovering from a fall down the stairs of his pub. He tells Davis to stop making the film, warning him of his suspicions about the murders.

Meanwhile, Pia discovers that the Bergerac cassette they had used also contains a recording of one of Iain's murders, which reveals Janet and Kenneth as partners in the crimes. Horrified, Pia flees the house into the darkness, trying to obtain phone reception to call Davis. Janet pursues her unsuccessfully, but Pia falls and hits her head while crossing a stream, and dies. Janet, expecting that her secret will be exposed, hangs herself, after putting her collection of tapes and other evidence of their crimes out to be found.

Davis and Pia themselves become subjects of the documentary, which details the parents' roles as ringleaders, and the actual killers of the Adairs. It brings newfound attention to the town of Loch Henry, wins a BAFTA, and is greenlit for a dramatization. Davis remains traumatized, and returns to his hotel room alone after the BAFTA ceremony, where he rereads his mother's suicide note: "For your film. Mum."

Production

Netflix announced that a sixth Black Mirror series was in development in May 2022, nearly three years since the previous series was released.[2] The episode was written by series creator Charlie Brooker, and directed by Sam Miller;[3] actress Weruche Opia, who co-starred in Miller's series I May Destroy You, makes a cameo as an actress attending the BAFTA afterparty at the end of the episode.

In writing the episode, Brooker was inspired by his experiences watching true crime documentaries, noticing how the genre's increasingly cinematic and art house style gave an air of being "somber, serious" and "important". He believed this masked its perverse, "rubbernecking" nature.[4]: 3:30–4:00  Additionally, he had searched for locations after seeing their use in documentaries, as landscapes and scenic details were used to fill space due to a lack of crime-related footage.[4]: 6:10–6:45  Brooker observed that the "texture of old media" had become fetishised.[4]: 7:45–8:00  He said it was about turning "horrible things" into "a sumptuous form of entertainment".[5]

Casting and filming

Filming took place in Loch Lomond in Scotland

An April 2023 casting announcement included Samuel Blenkin, Myha'la Herrold, Daniel Portman, John Hannah, and Monica Dolan,[6] who were linked to the episode "Loch Henry" the following month.[3]

"Loch Henry" is the first Black Mirror episode to take place in Scotland. The film crew used Loch Lomond as their base and filmed in 18 locations within Scotland. The majority of the episode was filmed in Arrochar, near the Argyll Forest.[7] Some filming took place in September 2022 when the main street of Inveraray in Argyll and Bute was transformed into the town of Loch Henry, set in the 1990s.[8] The episode was always intended to be set in Scotland; Brooker said it had an "unsentimental strand of humour" that the episode tried to draw on.[4]: 4:30–5:45 

Portman said he had "never laughed out loud so much" on reading a script.[4]: 2:30–2:40  Hannah discovered that the episode had more than the "straightforward horror found footage tale" he initially thought it was, as this narrative is deconstructed.[4]: 2:00–2:30  Blenkin opined that Davis would struggle to deal with his trauma due to its public nature, and that it could lead him to "become really cynical".[9] Visual effects company NVIZ helped with the creation of the montage where Davis and Pia cut a trailer for their documentary, which included adding VHS effects on footage, recreating scanning software and replicating old tabloid newspapers.[10]

Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the episode holds an approval rating of 87% based on 15 reviews.[11] The Independent rated it three stars out of five,[12] while The Daily Telegraph gave it four stars.[13]

References

  1. ^ "'Black Mirror' episode 'Loch Henry' could have gone harder on true crime tourism". Mashable. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  2. ^ Ravindran, Manori (16 May 2022). "Black Mirror Returns: New Series in the Works at Netflix (Exclusive)". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b May 11, Christian Holub (11 May 2023). "'Black Mirror' season 6 reveals episode details, new photos". Entertainment Weekly. Dotdash Meredith. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b c d e f Charlie Brooker reveals the inspiration behind the Black Mirror episode 'Loch Henry'. BAFTA On Set. British Academy of Film and Television Arts. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ Stefansky, Emma (15 June 2023). "Black Mirror Season 6: Charlie Brooker Breaks Down Every Episode". Esquire. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  6. ^ Strause, Jackie (26 April 2023). "Black Mirror Sets Season 6 Return, Reveals Cast and Teaser Trailer". The Hollywood Reporter. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  7. ^ Bitran, Tara (20 June 2023). "Is Loch Henry a Real Place in 'Black Mirror'?". netflix.com. Netflix.
  8. ^ Tiwari, Vidushi (7 September 2022). "In Pictures: Scots town transformed into 90s set for 'Netflix series'". STV News. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023.
  9. ^ Flood, Alex (16 June 2023). "'Black Mirror' season six post-watch guide: trivia, set secrets and more". NME. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  10. ^ "NVIZ delivers VFX and Graphics for Black Mirror Season 6". NVIZ Studio. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  11. ^ "Loch Henry". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  12. ^ Hilton, Nick (15 June 2023). "Black Mirror season six review: Charlie Brooker's sci-fi mishmash needs to stop messing with a winning formula". The Independent. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  13. ^ Power, Ed (15 June 2023). "In Loch Henry, Black Mirror takes on relentless and exploitative true-crime". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 June 2023.

Further reading

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