Starring: Iben Akerlie, Patrick Walsh McBride, Jonathan Harboe
Directed by Nini Bull Robsahm
Written by Nini Bull Robsahm
Produced by Canopy Film
It’s never a good sign when you watch a Shudder Original on the day of its release and it has 2 out of 5 skulls already.
It’s new release week here in the Sematary, and I decided to kick things off with the new Shudder Original LAKE OF DEATH, which LOOKED like the next big new ghost story/psychological horror. But as you can probably already gather, LAKE OF DEATH was a massive letdown. If loud whispering and looking at yourself in the mirror scares you, this is the movie for you.
LAKE OF DEATH follows Lillian (Iben Akerlie) as her and a group of friends go on a trip to the lake where her brother Bjorn (Patrick Walsh McBride) disappeared many years ago. The lake itself is somewhat infamous, being the site of a murder suicide where a man named Gruvik killed his wife and her lover before drowning himself as well. Bjorn’s disappearance does nothing but reinforce the legend of the lake as an almost sentient entity, a locus of evil that compels people to jump in and let themselves sink in its icy depths, which are said to be bottomless. Yet Gabriel (Jonathan Harboe), Lillian’s ex, believes returning to the lake might help Lillian overcome the bouts of sleepwalking and mental illness that have overtaken her since she left. But something seems to be calling to Lillian from within the lake, drawing her to it every night; and as that something infects her friends, picking them off one by one, dark secrets are revealed and the true nature of what happened all those years ago comes to light.
On a final note, this movie could actually be classified as a remake: it was “inspired” by a Norwegian horror film by the same name from 1958. I read the plot summary on Wikipedia and it sounds like a solid movie: borderline Lovecraftian horror without a trace of modern horror clichés that make this film nearly unwatchable. Go see that instead. I’m giving LAKE OF DEATH a 3 out of 10.
On Friday, we cover Impetigore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jf1x8qG7EA