A man finds a mystical romance that reveals past evil in his house by a lakeside.
Subgenres: art
Director: Maurice Devereaux
Writer: Maurice Devereaux
Starring: Erik Rutherford, Tennyson Loeh
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One of the things I'm on the lookout for is poor works in the guise of art. While I bemoan the times I trick myself into thinking that a piece of crap has value hidden in it, I'm encouraged when I can step back, take a breath, and recognize what's really going on behind a work of cinematic fiction. Let's use Evil Dead II as an example. It is an unrelenting mix of humor and horror, a deconstruction of pretty much everything that makes the horror genre what it is, from gore to hauntings to self-reference. It's smart, it looks great it's innovative. And, to mix references, the soundtrack "kicks fuckin' ass." It's a work of art hidden in a film some would mistake as cinematic trash. Lady of the Lake, on the other hand, is cinematic trash some would mistake as art. Yes, the director, Maurice Devereaux, sets up some nice images on occasion. However, what does much of it have to do with the plot or characters? Nothing discernable. When it comes to just normal directing, Devereaux seems unsure of himself, and in an attempt to stage innovative shots, he creates a mish-mash of techniques used by Stanley Kubrick in The Shining and Sam Raimi in all of the three Evil Dead movies. The acting in Lady of the Lake is downright terrible--there's no sense of mystery or attraction between the protagonist the the object of his obsession. The movie is supposed to be about a life-altering, reality-bending romance, and I felt nothing of it. The production values suggest that the people behind this ambitious but almost completely failed production should have reigned in their artistic impulses until they could hone them. Or find a better script. (Oct 17, 2001) | ||||||
Released on video by the horror publication Fangoria.
