The Canyons is a 2013 American erotic thriller-drama film directed by Paul Schrader and written by Bret Easton Ellis.

The film is set in Los Angeles and stars Lindsay Lohan, James Deen, Nolan Funk, Amanda Brooks, and Gus Van Sant.

It received a limited release on August 2, 2013, at the IFC Center in New York, the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto, and on video on demand platforms.

Christian then goes to John, one of the film crew members, and pressures him into playing a prank on Ryan: calling him in to tell him that he's about to be fired but can save his job by performing sexual favors.

Meanwhile, Ryan discovers Christian's daily schedule on Gina's computer, noticing regular "yoga sessions" with Cynthia.

It is revealed that Christian's therapy sessions with Doctor Campbell (Gus Van Sant) are not voluntary, but rather a condition of the trust fund he lives off.

Christian apologizes for brutalizing her and agrees to let her leave their relationship on two conditions: she must give him an alibi for his murder of Cynthia and she must never contact Ryan.

Braxton Pope, Bret Easton Ellis and Paul Schrader were originally involved in a film project, Bait.

[7] On July 24, 2012, it was announced that American Apparel would be supplying the cast with wardrobe and was planning to issue logo T-shirts based on Ellis, The Canyons, and Schrader.

[11] On August 2, 2013, rapper Kanye West released a new version of the trailer; he worked with Nate Brown on the re-editing and created new music with Noah Goldstein.

Although Schrader, Ellis, and Pope initially favored French actress Leslie Coutterand[17] (who auditioned through Let It Cast), the role of Tara ultimately went to Lohan.

We wanted to actively embrace all the digital and social media tools at our disposal and give the film real cinematic value—The Canyons is the result of a forward thinking experiment with a terrific cast."

"[7] Principal photography began in July 2012 with the shooting of the first six minutes of the film[27] in the bar of the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.

"[31] On Ellis' Podcast, he claims to now have a new appreciation of the film, saying he had trouble at first accepting Schrader's vision of his material, but in the end, has come to an understanding over his reservations during the creative process.

[28] It was released on August 2, 2013, in the United States at the IFC Center in New York City, the Bell Lightbox in Toronto, and on video on demand platforms.

[39] The Canyons was given an R rating for "strong sexual content including graphic nudity, language throughout, a bloody crime scene, and brief drug use".

The site's consensus says the film "serves as a sour footnote in Paul Schrader's career—but it does feature some decent late-period work from Lindsay Lohan".

[44] Writing for The Village Voice, Stephanie Zacharek praised Lohan's performance, likening her Tara character to "a nectarine on the far side of ripening, and this isn't a story about innocence lost—she sold that off long ago.

In a glowing review, Richard Brody wrote in The New Yorker that movie "isn’t a study in character but a view of the world; it’s a masterful setting of mood", praising Deen for doing "terrific job exuding a sense of imperious entitlement" and saying that Lohan's "performance itself is electrifyingly alive".

[46] Jason Shawhan's Nashville Scene review claimed "Lohan tears into this role with fierce energy, walking the fine line between dominance and desperation.

On another level, it’s an inspiration and an example to us all: it’s difficult for me to imagine another filmmaker of Paul Schrader’s stature diving into the world of crowd-sourced moviemaking, let alone with such fervor, dedication and rigor.

"[48] In 2022, Aryan Tauqeer Khawaja reassessed The Canyons in Little White Lies, stating that the "much-derided" project is "a sharper take on performance than it first appears", concluding that the film "asserts there's always someone else pulling the strings, making it impossible to extricate oneself from the erosion of self enabled by late capitalism.

"[49] In an essay for Mubi, Greg Cwik opined that the film "presents an unprecedented and unmitigated perspective on Hollywood's toxic affluence, as judgmental as it is enamored of the iniquitous lives it depicts.

It's a strange, austere study of postmodernity [...] It's a film that's easy to misunderstand and even easier to dislike but, then again, so much interesting and worthwhile art is.

"[52] A couple of years prior, Metrograph hosted a screening of the movie followed by a Q&A session with Schrader and Alex Ross Perry,[53][54] who had previously described The Canyons as "anthropologically fascinating and comprehensive in showing me this ugly side of a horrible culture that I secretly enjoy driving past and looking at.

"[55] Vulture's Roxana Hadadi reexamined the movie and called Lohan's performance "the best part" of it and a "persuasive comeback attempt all its own" in retrospect, with "her aura of lived-in disappointment" giving The Canyons "an advantageous cynicism about Hollywood and who survives there.

"[58] Jim Hemphill also wrote a critical reassessment of the movie for IndieWire, acknowledging its qualities as "an anthropological study and poison pen letter to Hollywood" and stated it "gave Schrader new life as a filmmaker.

"[59] After being selected for inclusion on the Criterion Channel in June 2024, The Guardian compared The Canyons to Schrader's Hardcore stating the films "deliver dueling eulogies for Tinseltown, portrayed first as a seamy underbelly in 1979 and then as a long-in-decline ghost town by 2013.

A sex scene at the beginning of the film, which featured the characters of Tara, Christian and Reid (Danny Wylde), had to have cuts made to meet the content standards of iTunes.

In January 2025, Vinegar Syndrome released a limited edition Blu-ray of The Canyons with new artwork and bonus features, including audio commentary by film historian Adrian Martin and a video interview with Schrader.