LOST LAKE (2012)

Studio:       Gravitas Ventures
Director:    Marcus Nash
Writer:       Marcus Nash, David Clair
Producer:  David Clair
Stars:     John Shartzer, Katie Keene, Pat McNeely, Ezra Buzzington

Review Score: 

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Summary:

A young couple searches for a ghost-hunting relative in the abandoned town of Lost Lake, only to become caught in a ghost story of their own. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Off the highway leading towards Death Valley, a German tourist takes photographs in the California ghost town of Lost Lake. An unknown assailant then attacks the sightseer with a shovel.

For her upcoming wedding, Tricia wants her Uncle Vern to walk her down the aisle, but he has not sent an RSVP. No one has heard from Vern since he went ghost hunting at Lost Lake. Tricia’s fiancé Jeff offers to drive them out to Lost Lake and investigate. On the way, Jeff and Tricia receive a cryptic warning about the location from a pair of shopkeepers. Tricia discusses her fear of ghosts while Jeff drives.

Tricia and Jeff explore the abandoned town. Tricia claims that she saw a creepy old woman stalking after them. The couple eventually finds Vern. Vern tells Tricia that the old woman is a harmless woman named Jonquil. Jonquil has assured Vern that a ghost will appear in town that day, as it is the Fourth of July and the ghost returns to town on major holidays. She is rumored to be a woman named Guinevere who was murdered by the townspeople years ago after all of her bones were broken.

Vern asks his niece and her fiancé to stay and help him capture the ghost’s appearance on their cell phone video cameras. Despite being frightened of ghosts, Tricia agrees. Elsewhere, Jonquil performs a blood magic ritual with a snake and a mouse while Vern plies the couple with vodka by toasting to the ghost.

Vern gives Tricia a walkie-talkie and asks her and Jeff to investigate the market for supernatural signs. Jeff is freaked out when he feels a ghostly presence in the store. Reunited with Vern, Jeff replays the footage of his encounter. Tricia and Jeff tell Vern that they are too frightened to stay. Vern has an emotional breakdown and tells his niece that he hates her and Jeff. After they leave, Vern becomes possessed and pounds his head against a metal fixture. Three wounds appear on his forehead.

Back at their car, Tricia hears her uncle on the walkie-talkie. He tells them that their car will not start because he removed the spark plugs. Tricia goes to confront Vern and he chops off her finger with a machete. She and Jeff flee into a building.

Jeff rigs the walkie-talkie to lure Vern into a walk-in freezer and locks the man inside. They go back to Vern’s place to search for the spark plugs. Tricia finds papers indicating that Guinevere was actually a witch. Jonquil is her sister and Vern is helping the old woman resurrect the evil spirit.

An invisible force opens the freezer door and allows Vern to escape. When Jeff and Tricia try to leave Vern’s place, Vern knocks out Jeff with a shovel. Tricia runs away. Vern ties Jeff to a post and chases his niece in his truck. He eventually gives up the pursuit. Vern returns to Jeff and fixes him with a choke chain. Using Vern’s truck, Jonquil drives Jeff to where Tricia is. When Tricia attends to her fiancé, Vern comes up from behind and captures her.

Vern uses a shovel to begin breaking his niece’s bones. Jeff escapes from Jonquil and kills Vern. Jeff brings Tricia back to their car and then returns to the sacrifice site to retrieve the spark plugs. Jeff takes the plugs, but drops them intentionally when he becomes possessed. Jeff returns to the car and then attacks Tricia. After burying his fiancée, Jeff goes back to Vern’s house where Jonquil tends to him.

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Review:

Indeed, the lake is most definitely lost, as there is not a drop of liquid, much less a full body of water, to be found anywhere in the film.  Lost Lake is actually a California ghost town off the highway towards Death Valley and “Lost Lake” is a ghost story set in the titular locale.  “Lost Lake” is serviceable for a low budget indie, but there is depth absent from the story and scope missing from the production that prevent the movie from being something better than merely adequate.

The plot involves young cutie Tricia, who enlists the help of her fiancé Jeff to track down her ghost hunting uncle Vern, whose last known whereabouts were somewhere in Lost Lake.  The soon-to-be-married couple finds the kooky relative, but the trio ends up embroiled in a ghost story involving a vengeful witch who once plagued the haunted town.

The poster gives the impression of “Lost Lake” being a slasher, when only one body drops until the closing minutes of the film.  Really, the story primarily involves just the three principles bounding around a ghost town.  Aside from a wrinkled old crone who never utters a word but plays an important supporting role, every brief scene that includes any other characters or dialogue can be discarded and forgotten completely.

Katie Keene and John Shartzer fit their parts fine.  And Ezra Buzzington hits the right notes as the weirdo uncle.  They come close to carrying the movie by themselves, but “Lost Lake” chokes whenever its compact story hits a lull.  And that is something that happens often.

There is not a great deal of muscle to stretch across the thin skeleton that comprises “Lost Lake.”  Although there is extraneous fat in the form of various cars that refuse to start, hiding in dark corners while waiting for a pursuer to pass, and myriad other moments seemingly designed solely to fill up the eighty minutes.

The pace becomes as dry as the arid desert location when the movie is killing time.  Even with a perfect setting, the jump scares are scarce and the whole mythology behind the haunting comes off as another missed opportunity.  Desperate to inject some horror, a murder that opens the film is one more peg shoved into the square hole of things that do not fit.  That theme of scenes and elements wedged forcefully into the movie carries into the story, as well.  Details regarding the plot twist come with more questions than answers and the constant running from danger wears out its welcome in short order.

According to a story reported in the Los Angeles Times, producer David Clair was working on another project in the Mojave Desert when he came upon the abandoned town of Trona.  With the desolate landscape and dilapidated structures in mind as an ideally creepy shooting location, he and his filmmaking partner Marcus Nash worked a story around the setting.  Low budget moviemaking often necessitates building from what is accessible and available.  But “Lost Lake” shows the seams of putting the cart before the horse with a story that does feel developed second to everything else.  As a result, “Lost Lake” ends up playing out as a decent short story idea pulled like a taffy rope into a mediocre feature film.

NOTE: "Lost Lake" was previously known by the title “Terror at Lost Lake.”

Review Score:  50

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