The Lake

I recently watched the Thai film 🇹🇭 The Lake (2022) on Prime. The storyline follows a small lakeside town terrorized by a monstrous creature after its eggs are disturbed. As the creature goes on a killing spree, the government quarantines the area, leaving the locals as the only ones who can stop it.

Directed by Lee Thongkham (Kitty the Killer), the film stars Chartchai Ketnust (The Mother), Sushar Manaying (The Couple), and Vithaya Pansringarm (Only God Forgives).

From start to finish, this is one of those films where you constantly find yourself rolling your eyes at the characters' decisions. Despite a family subplot, there's little reason to care about what happens to anyone. The CGI is decent, the monster design is cool, and the film has a strong Gamera-like vibe, for better or worse. The horror elements are entirely CGI-driven, and while the premise is straightforward, the execution lacks depth. This is really only enjoyable for diehard monster movie fans looking for something new.

In conclusion, The Lake has some fun monster moments but lacks the storytelling to make it a genuinely good film. I'd rate it a 4/10 and only recommend it with the appropriate expectations.

A movie about a Godzilla-style monster in Thailand seemed like something for me. It turns out that a lot goes wrong in this movie. Let's go first to what goes well. The monster design. Good design and is very convincing in slower-moving scenes. The little girl's performance, the best of the cast, the least forced. The soundtrack is nothing out of this world, but it fits perfectly into the film's most tense scenes. Some scenes that are inspired by other films, namely the scene in the car which is clearly a copy of Jurassic Park.

What goes wrong? Mainly a terrible script. This is for sure the first draft of something written in a very short time. They watched Jurassic Park, Godzilla, and Lake Placid and copied almost everything. Dialogue is awful. It never feels natural, it's repetitive, it adds almost nothing, or when it adds a lot it's through exposition in scenes where NOBODY would discuss family problems.

Other things that go wrong? The director doesn't seem to know what to do and the editing is super erratic. The film varies from 30 to 30 seconds of scenery and with that, the rhythm of the action also varies. The excessive use of the shaky cam also does nothing good, as we often see nothing of what is happening on the screen. Is there still room for more critics? Well, there is definitely an excessive melodrama throughout with scenes dragging on endlessly.

In short, this had everything to go right, but almost everything went wrong. It's hard for me to speak well of a movie in which the creature emits a sound that shakes an entire movie theater but is only seen or heard by people when it's half a meter away from them (and they can hear the screams from people being attacked!). It would be hard for me to believe that in a situation like this, the population would behave that way, with many pretending to run and most walking calmly. Invest in good scripts, people, and make it make sense!

Fortunately, I was able to watch this with original Thai Language (it defaulted to English dub on Prime Video and 30 seconds of THAT and I knew I HAD to switch). Sure, the story is pretty generic, with small slices of Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and The Host (2006) and the character development is almost non-existent. But the monster has a cool design and the CGI and practical fx are pretty impressive for what, I'm assuming, is a smaller budgeted giant monster film. The acting is above average and the film is well-photographed, save for some quick cuts in the shrubs early in the movie. Overall, its not as bad as most "The Asylum" creature features you'll catch on SyFy & nowhere near as bad as its current IMDB rating makes it out to be. I enjoyed it, but urge folks to seek out the film in original Thai language, as I imagine the crappy English dub gives it an unintended "campy" tone.

Ever had minimal expectations for a movie and still come out disappointed? That's what I got for "The Lake", a giant monster movie from Thailand. I remember seeing the trailer months ago and thought it looked nice. Too bad the nice shine is from a shallow pool. The plot is simple: an egg is found along with a human-sized amphibian creature that goes on a killing spree before being captured. Big momma shows up to find both, throwing the townsfolk into chaos.

The most positive thing about this film is the effects. There's a great blend of CGI and practical effects with the big creature in particular primarily displayed via a massive animatronic reminiscent of the T-rex from "Jurassic Park", all of which looks impressive. The design isn't bad either, slightly humanoid but mostly having fish-like traits. Can't say the same for the rest of the film. There's a smidge of potential with the human characters, who have strained relationships with their families, which contrasts the creature trying to save its offspring. Too bad none of the characters are worth a crap since we barely know anything about them or have time to let them breathe. The constant screaming from the crowds gets so annoying it makes Ann Darrow from "King Kong" seem soft spoken by comparison. Aside from the initial attack scene, there's hardly any action and the beasts do very little; the big monster doesn't even smash any buildings or fight the authorities. Most crippling of all is the horrendous pacing. The movie's 90 minutes long yet it feels twice that much with multiple scenes going on far too long and being uneventful. It bored me out of my mind. There's an English dub, but it's pretty sloppily executed compared to other East Asian films I've seen. Also, the story doesn't really take place on a lake, much less make it a major focus, so add misleading title to the list of sins.

"The Lake" is yet another example of how good effects can never top good writing and direction. Give this a hard pass. If you want a better version of a story where a giant rampaging monster seeks to save its young, watch the 1961 British flick "Gorgo".

No pun intended - obviously I am making a joke here. Also no chicken (was hurt) either - but you knew about that. If you are into creature features, you will have quite the swell time. Really well done - the (special) effects we see here. I imagine this didn't have the biggest budget, yet it really delivers on that front (and back - another pun?).

One thing is for sure, you should never take away something that does not belong to you - I think that is a lesson everyone can learn from this movie. Suspend your disbelief and experience this with the characters - and a monster you may be able to sympathize with ... until it gets you between his teeth ... only slightly kidding with this ...