So Cold the River (2010)

Eric Shaw, a filmmaker for hire in this well-
plotted yarn, hasn't learned the first rule of documentarians: Don't get too close to your subject. When a Chicago woman hires him to make a film about the childhood of her billionaire father-in-law, she lends him one of the man's prized possessions, a mysteriously cold bottle of Pluto mineral water (a real-life product from the early 20th century). No sooner does Eric sneak a sip than he begins having hallucinations of the man's deep, dark past in rural Indiana. Michael Koryta, the author of first-rate Midwest-set mysteries, swigs from the fount of Stephen King with So Cold the River — much of the story takes place in a resort hotel á la The Shining — but the result is more creepy than truly terrifying. B

See all of this week's reviews