Lost Lake

Lost Lake is a terrible film with drab acting a boring storyline and very little actual horror, not to mention the poor special effects.

The plot was awful, and actually rather nasty and sadistic in some places. The sets were alright and the cinematography below average but decent in places, however there are very few positives and this is a horrendously bad film.

1/10: Lowest rating possible for this

This is one of the worst movies I've seen. The story is lame and the stupidity of the characters is beyond belief. If people were really this stupid, there would be a lot less of them.

TERROR AT LOST LAKE is a derivative thriller-cum-slasher movie with just four cast members and a predictable script to boast of. The best thing about it is the setting of a remote desert ghost town, long abandoned and full of dust, tumbleweed, and decay. It's a pity that the writers couldn't have concocted a more exciting story to take place in these splendidly atmospheric surroundings.

The essence of the story is that a couple of youthful characters (an annoying girl and her boyfriend) go searching for her missing uncle, only to discover that he's up to his neck in paranormal research. What transpires around the halfway mark I didn't buy for a second, with the ghost and psycho genres failing to gel very well. The film's denouement is pretty routine: WOLF CREEK is an obvious inspiration here, but the film-makers can't hope to hold a candle to that masterpiece.

The makers of this film were inspired by the town of Trona, California, at the entrance of Death Valley. The location is rather haunting, but little is done with it. The story of two young fiances who come to help the bride-to-be's eccentric ghost hunter uncle is trite and most of the film is depressing rather than scary or suspenseful. The ghosts in the town make very little of an appearance and most of the film is people fleeing from a serial killer in a ghost town. The actors are OK. But the story is tiresome and the ending so dreary, you'll be sorry if you watched until the end.

What do you get when you add Ghost Town + Old Witch + The Possessed + Unsuspecting Couple? --What you get is The Unsuspecting Couple traveling to Ghost Town where they run afoul of Old Witch and The Possessed. As is usual with these things, it takes a little time for the couple to figure out something is terribly wrong and that they need to book. Only it's not that simple (no entertainment otherwise, folks).

Chick and her fiancée go looking for her uncle Verne in some place called "Lost Lake" since he's supposed to walk her down the aisle about a month hence and he's been incommunicado. The couple set out and after receiving an oblique warning by a store owner (as is usual with these things) they arrive at Lost Lake which turns out to be a ghost town where uncle Verne is supposedly "ghost hunting" and researching. They are intrigued by the abandoned town and do a little exploring until they eventually run into Uncle Verne who acts like he's on uppers or something and who wants the couple to stick around and help him record the ghost with their cell phones "video capabilities". I had to chuckle at this point since I had this visual of people going around looking for ghosts with their cell phones. Where was uncle Verne's "more professional" ghost-hunting equipment would have been the natural question to ask at this point. But I guess brains addled by upcoming nuptials did not think to ask.

Nothing in terms of action or suspense happens until past the halfway point of this movie when the couple decide it's a good time to leave after an unimpressive (to me) encounter with "something" inside a building. Most of the action at this point was from the couple being chased by a machete wielding possessed man aided and manipulated by a wrinkled old mute witch and another long dead. Finally, a long build up or stretch of nothing happening only works if there is a huge payoff toward the end which, sadly, did not happen here. The movie should have gotten the ball rolling sooner, so to speak. Had it done that it could have picked up 1 o 2 more stars from me. By the time it became mildly interesting it was as they say "too little, too late". Love, Boloxxxi.

P.S. Trivia:

Guy in movie claims to not know about "Fantasy Island" American TV show 1972...("before my time") and later make a knowing reference to the "Brady Bunch" American TV series 1969...