Plongée mortelle

I watched Cabin By The Lake, and this sequel in a row. Whereas the first was fairly good, this was horrendously bad. Judd Nelson is an excellent actor. Unfortunately, the script, filming, other acting, etc. made this a bad follow up movie. Regardless of how long ago Stanley had killed those girls, someone in the town would remember what he looked like. Not to mention the fact that if they are making a movie ABOUT Stanley, someone doing the movie would know what he LOOKED like, as well. He too easily walked on the shoot and took over. Also, the storyline of the movie in the movie was not what actually happened in the first film. And, the filming, at times, looked like a video camera was used. All in all, the sequel was not a smidgeon close to as good as the first.

I thought the original Cabin by the Lake was pretty good for a TV movie; it was easy enough to get into the characters, and Judd Nelson played a psychopath very well. The change in the sequel that I liked the best was the strange interaction between Stanley and Alison, as the circumstances surrounding it make their mind games with each other seem more sensible than those between Stanley and Mallory in the original.

However, there is one little thing that nags at me throughout the whole movie: how in the world could someone on the set of a Hollywood movie not have recognized Stanley's face from somewhere? The extent of his disguise is a pair of glasses! Other than that annoyance, I was not disappointed by this sequel.

What a great bad movie! In this sequel to the story where a screenwriter enacts his own murderous screenplay (as he's writing it in the same mountain town where pre-production for the film is already going on), the now presumably dead and posthumously legendary writer-killer sneaks back on the set of the now-in-production movie (in 3 different clever disguises) and ever-so ironically discusses himself with everyone. Got it? The writing is sometimes fairly good, especially in the second half. The premise is interesting and despite loads of silliness, it's kinda kooky and fun. Judd Nelson just doesn't disturb me enough, though. I keep thinking of New Jack City and The Breakfast Club. Not to mention that damn Brooke Shields sitcom. However, one of the finest assets in the film is an incredibly overacted Brian Krause. Last time I saw him, he was the monster-hunk in Stephen King's "Sleepwalkers." That was around ten years ago, and it looks about 20. He plays the stereotypically abusive, ego-ridden, and sleazy director of the new picture who claims he was good friends with the killer/writer. Naturally Judd Nelson disabuses him of that notion.

Krause is pure B-movie dynamite. He acts like a starving bum eats..with incredible gusto and absolutely no attention to the results.

Of more amusement yet is the wacky directing and cinematography. The director like to emulate Oliver Stone in the worst possible way.switching film stock all over the place. I'm no film student, but I know 8mm film and hand -held video camera results when I see them. So a lot of the crucial scenes look like they were filmed in part by the camera crew from COPS. And it's totally inappropriate to the 'scary' feel. There is a scene that has got to be Sam Raimi homage, with the camera spiraling up from Judd Nelson's face after he wakes up. At least he got that right. So check this out on USA. I was lucky (?) enough to catch the first one for the 1rst time the night before, so of course I just had to watch this premiere. And what a super experience it was.

This movie was bad! The oringinal is waaay better. When I was watching this one quote came to mind "Sequels suck," (Randy- Scream2). IF they make a sequel to "Return to Cabin by the lake" it should at least have a plot the portrays to the first one. It should also include oringinal characters like Mallory and Boone.

After seeing the Cabin by the lake, i was anxious to see the sequel... now I'm just glad i didn't see it first. I was quite disappointed with how a wonderful movie was slaughtered by its sequel. Stanley lost the manic appeal he held in the first movie and became a sadistic revenge driven man. The only time i really saw a hint to the original Stanley is when he is reminiscing about Kimberley's death and even then he was very different. All in all watching the sequel was a depressing expereince.