Lake Dead

Lake Dead is a horror film that puts a spin on "keeping it in the family". The grandfather of a blond hottie named Brielle is shot by a police officer when attempting to flee from his residence and the county, wanting to leave behind a depraved family activity that has been going on for some time. Brielle receives a call from her alcoholic father informing her of an inheritance of a hotel. What Brielle (Kelsey Crane), her sister Kelli (Kelsey Weeden), Brielle's beau Bill (Alex Quinn), and their entourage encounter is not what they were expecting. The family secret will reveal itself, and both Brielle and Kelli will be in quite a fight to protect themselves from sexual assault and attempted abuse.

Backwoods is where we return once again, and two more menacing inbred brothers in work suits will be on the prowl to brutalize and rape. You have the likes of Malea Richardson and Vanessa Viola as eye candy that accompany the gang, as well as, Jim Devoti as Bill's buddy (Ben has the luxury of having two babes desiring him). Tara Gerard is the sour puss adopted sister of Brielle with little regard for manners or decorum. She gets it real good thanks to the brutish twins, with a bar stabbed through her feet (this is a major Ouch), with chains and weighted once thrown into the Lake Dead near the hotel. I particularly liked the pick ax make-up effect, as the tool is sticking the face of the sexually promiscuous one of the group to a tree. The hanging of another victim offers a memorable if unsettling image. The rubbery face taking a shotgun butt multiple times is rather unimpressive because it doesn't look particularly authentic (although, it might provide a giggle or two).

I think the problem with the film is I never felt Brielle and Kelli were in any trouble of being impregnated and violated, and I'm not sure anybody would have, either. And the avoidance of Bill's demise when the family had matters under their control is something right out of a Bond film where the villain can't bother just killing off the hero. It really stretches credibility when the sheriff (James Burns) loses his boy (brother/son), and has every reason to shoot Bill right in front of Brielle and Kelli, instead leaving him at the mercy of his other son/brother.

Lake Dead has the position of rating as another member of the Hills Have Eyes club. It doesn't improve upon the film that seems to produce many numbers of clones like the never-ending Wrong Turn series and numerous HHE sequels remakes afterward. Inbred hick psychos and a morally ambiguous incestuous families are too good to be true in the horror genre where shock and disgust are desired effects from certain filmmakers. However, that effect, after numerous efforts have capitalized on it, begins to wane and soon wavers. Lake Dead  doesn't even attempt to push that envelope nearly as far as Aja did with his remake of The Hills Have Eyes. It isn't disturbing enough because most of the subject matter is referenced, discussed, and delightfully addressed by the sheriff and his mama (the mama played by Pat McNeely) but never carried out to any truly substantial degree that would warrant the kind of repulsion that usually results from human degenerates terrorizing innocents.

McNeely and James Burns are obviously having fun playing totally amoral heathens. They relish the possibility of forcing Brielle and Kelli into their sick, twisted family. It plays a bit over-the-top which dissipates some of the power that might have resulted from seriously toned performances. Because the tone regarding them doesn't quite paint them as really serious threats, I think what could have been potentially disturbing borders on comedic instead of skin-crawling. Aja's villains made my skin crawl and I couldn't wait to see them get their just desserts; however, they did serious damage to characters I actually liked which prompted such a response. The cretins in Lake Dead never quite achieve that level of revulsion from me. I found them rather silly.

The film goes out of its way to stress the sexual and emotional connection of Brielle and Bill. At the beginning, we see immediately that these two are probably life partners had they resisted going to Lake Dead. Brielle's father has a lot to do with this and then attempts to make amends by coming to the rescue. Damage done, Brielle and Kelli will never be quite the same again. This all could have some serious dramatic impact if it had been directed with an intention on the dynamics of this estranged relationship. However, this is about a family of wackjobs doing in those who stand in their way of the main objective...continuing the incestuous bloodline. Their father defied the family and left, and his sins according to them have meant drastic measures taken to secure the daughters so they take their rightful place where these girls supposedly (to them) belong. I think the ending won't surprise anyone, because this film never seems willing to go too far, or far enough to convince that the real, present danger will spoil the sisters. That the film proposes that the hotel still has a resident, with "trespassers" passing through to see it out of curiosity, where the obvious signs are future mayhem; this shouldn't startle anybody, either. I'll best describe this as run-of-the-mill and easily forgotten once the credits role. This was part of the 2007 8 Films to Die For.