Lake of Death seems like an ambitious thriller, but ends up being this weird amalgamation of the worst parts of better movies. Narrative, tone, mood, themes are disjointed. relies on direct textual references to other movies to drive home tension, but also isn’t that sort of movie. The references don’t actually anything or go anywhere – they are a trick to artificially build tension that otherwise is lost by an underdeveloped story. It keeps name checking these other horrors in the dialogue, as if we are supposed to “get it” but works against those very references with its own cinematography. Which….could be interesting, if there was more development – either visually or narratively (but both fall short).
There are a few stunning shots and scenes of pure mood and they are generally cut off at the knee by the scenes directly following, rendered meaningless. This is cemented by some moody, late night shots that make the audience wonder about the main character – is she haunted, possessed by a secret trauma, is the cabin awakening something in her? But then there is a 10 minute scene about a potentially haunted breakfast table placement. Who made the dang breakfast???
The twist isn’t…really. You can see it coming a mile a way, as they telegraph it in the first 2 minutes. The movie works hard to make you think that there is MORE TO IT, but there really isn’t, at least not in a way that pays off. By act three, I stopped caring. This also might e a Norwegian thing, but everyone is painfully attractive in a way that makes me not care about anyone.
I always like to see the other comments on a Shudder movie, just to see what other people think. This is often somewhat dubious on my end, to see why other’s think something is good. I hate to break it to the user who didn’t “understand” the ending, but uh this is just yer classic, run of the mill, 9 to 5, meat and potatoes, lunchbox and thermos, traditional, fundamental, foundational, by the books Norwegian twin brother wants to fuck his sister movie. It is just propped up with a bunch of tropes to give the false allusion that it is something else, only to swing back at you with the painfully obvious twist that undercuts the previous developments of the movie.
Nothing to see here, folks.
No Internet 