Rivages mortels

What an enjoyable movie this is! It's one of those plots that keep you thinking right the way through the film. This is fortunate, as it tends to distract you from the low budget and sometimes questionable acting. Although it's basically a variation on the old BODY SNATCHERS story, THE LAKE has some interesting angles which make it quite unique.

Yasmine Bleeth, who wraps up warm throughout the movie (well that red bathing suit can't keep much of the cold out!), is passable as the Los Angeles girl who returns home to find her friends and family taking on bizarrely different personalities. She looks good, but cannot quite grasp that lead-actress air that would have been nice. Her biggest assets (those that were exploited every Saturday afternoon in my teens) are defiantly not an issue here (to the credit of Ms Bleeth and the director). So it's good to see her in a role which relies on other talents. The supporting artists in the film, however, are rather unmemorable and serve as 'character wallpaper' in this highly decorated story. Of interest, though, is a slightly younger (and trendier) Haley Joel Osment who has just shot to fame as Cole in THE SIXTH SENSE.

In conclusion, this is an enjoyable movie with flaws that are somewhat masked by a damn good story. A bigger budget would have really made a difference (a cinema release may have been able to give us a glimpse of "the other side" in its exciting climax). But as a TV-movie this definitely works. So jump right in, and stay close to the shore!

This film is quite good despite not having a great cast, The story is quite slow to begin with but after a while, it turns into a suspenceful and enjoyable movie, the plot is a cross between 'the stepford wives' and ' invasion of the bodysnatchers' The film isn't very frightening so children will enjoy enjoy this as well as adults.

a must for all die hard sci-fi fans

I'd give this movie a 9/10

Those who expected the combination of words "Lake + Yasmine + Bleeth" to equal ninety minutes of the ravishing former Baywatch star parading in colorful bikinis and too tight bathing suits might be *slightly* disappointed, but all the others are likely to be pleasantly surprised after seeing this produced-for-TV 90's thriller. The plot offers absolutely nothing original, as it's just another umpteenth variation on the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" theme, but the overall atmosphere is remarkably unsettling, the pacing is kept stable without too many boring relapses and the acting performances are more than adequate. If you can accept the unearthly beautiful & voluptuous Bleeth to play the role of an intelligent nurse, you won't have any problems sinking your teeth into the rest of derivative story, neither. Jackie Ivers returns to her little hometown, San Vincento, California, after she received note that her abusive and drunkard father is dying from liver cirrhosis. She immediately notices something isn't kosher in town. Severely injured victims of car accidents happily walk the streets the day after, friendly elderly neighbors turn into grumpy and emotionless people overnight and even Jackie's terminally ill father miraculously cures and transforms into an amiable guy. Long before Jackie does, the attentive and experienced viewer figures out the townsfolk are gradually being replaced with replicas from a parallel dimension, and this through an eerie vortex in the middle of the town's lake. Admittedly you're always several steps ahead of the script, but the film at least contains a handful of well-staged & tense scenes (for example, when neighbor Maggie runs into her own doppelganger) and the paranoid climax even reminded me of the genuinely nostalgic Sci-Fi efforts of the 1950's. Admirers of the lovely Mrs. Bleeth – and, honestly, what male individual on this planet isn't one – are treated to a double portion of eye-candy near the end of the movie and even during that scene she behaves like a professional actress. "The Lake" also stars Haley Joel Osment before he became a world star thanks to "The Sixth Sense" and the always reliable Robert Prosky whose face anyone will recognize. Decent rainy-Saturday-afternoon time-waster.

Cross `Invasion of the Body Snatchers' with `Journey to the Far Side of the Sun' and you get `The Lake,' a better-than-average foray into televised science-fiction fantasy.

Instead of emotionless pod-people, these invaders are exact opposites of their earthbound twins, doppelgangers from a poisoned alternate earth that are repopulating our world through an idyllic portal in the languid waters of a California lake. That is the premise of this creepy little ditty from network TV, starring former-`Baywatch' babe Yasmine Bleeth, Oscar-nominee Haley Joel Osment (`The Sixth Sense') and TV alumni Robert Prosky (`Hill Street Blues') and Marion Ross (`Happy Days').

As a sci-fi fan who considers `Invasion of the Body Snatchers' sacred, I was pleasantly surprised at how easily this derivative tele-chiller captured my interest and managed to build suspense right through to the end. Credit director David Jackson (`Atomic Train'), who appears to treat the genre with genuine respect while treading a well-traveled road. Buy the premise and you'll buy the film.

This is one of the many iterations of the "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" theme of duplicates replacing originals. The title refers to the lake where some kind of vortex is the meeting place of two worlds. The film manages to really build suspense through the first hour, and is quite well done for a TV film. But like so many of these stories, the explanation is far fetched and a bit of a letdown. Having Haley Joel Osment is a plus, in a supporting role, but by the end, what might have been a 9 or 10 gets a generous 8, mainly because it was so captivating for the majority of the film.