Lake, The (1978) [short]

Directed by:

Lindsey C. Vickers

Prowling around a deserted farmhouse, both inside and out, the camera captures shattered glass, dead bugs and birds, old newspapers, children's drawings, a birthday card, empty jars and cans and miscellaneous pieces of wood and plastic that used to be furniture and toys; all remnants of a families former life. Most of these things, once prized, beloved and / or useful possessions, have been reduced to little more than debris ready for a landfill. A yard that was once kept is now overgrown, with rusted out farm equipment almost lost within the weeds. A barn that was once used for cattle is now is disrepair and barely standing upright. Accompanying these images are faint sounds of parents and children, a strong wind and creaking wood, along with a light piano melody as it finally closes on a cracked, sideways black-and-white photo of a family of four. A father. A mother. A son. A daughter. As the camera closes in on the father and an ominous note hits on the soundtrack, we notice the father is missing one of his fingers.

This opening scene is both genuinely chilling and well shot, and the good news is that the rest of this 33 minute short is able to sustain the creep factor and the clever cinematography... and thank God for that! By the time I reached this, the eighth of nine shorts contained on BFI's box set "Shock Sharp Shocks," I'd pretty much given up hope of seeing much of anything worthwhile, but this turned out to be a real gem on this set. The ONLY real gem thus far, though I still have one more - Nigel Finch's THE ERRAND (1980) - to go!

Looking for some alone time, young couple Tony (Gene Foad) and Barbara (Julie Peasgood), who were born and raised in the area but had since moved to the city, show up to take a look at the abandoned home before heading over to a nearby lake on the same property. We learn that three years earlier, the father in the photo may have killed his entire family, all of their pets and their livestock. No one is quite sure because he vanished immediately after the murders and hasn't been seen since. Perhaps he was a victim as well and the killer hid his body. Perhaps he killed them himself and then fled the area. Perhaps he killed them himself and is still in the area waiting for some people to come snooping around...

The bank, now in possession of the property, has had an impossible time trying to unload it onto someone. None of the locals are willing to buy it and it's sat vacant and in a slow state of deterioration ever since. After a brief tour of the notorious murder site, Tony, Barbara and their Rottweiler, Condor, travel down the road a piece to a lake to have a picnic, but something that started stalking them around the home has followed them there.

While the set-up is simple, it's the execution that makes all the difference here. This is filled with creepy POV camera shots stalking about in the woods spying on the couple, much of it reminiscent of the same type of camerawork later used in Sam Raimi's breakthrough hit The Evil Dead (1981), though, unlike that film, this is entirely set during the day and is more ambiguous about its threat. The actors are good (the female lead is also given an 18-minute interview as an extra on this set), and it's well directed, scored and edited, but perhaps this film's greatest attribute of all is the incredibly unnerving, distorted sound design full of strange noises, fuzz, echoes, bird-like calls, synths, hushed voices and heavy breathing. While I wasn't terribly fond of the annoyingly inconclusive ending, everything leading up to it is pretty great.

Despite showing all of the promise in the world with this, the director went on to make just one feature: The Appointment (1981), starring Edward Woodward. Back in the early 80s, it was met with indifferent reviews and distribution problems before being unceremoniously dumped onto the home video market in 1982, where it was quickly forgotten. Since then it's developed something of a following and, based on the strength of this one, expect a review for it here sooner rather than later.

In the UK (and Australia) it was common for short films to be shown before main features, which is where some first saw this. That sure as hell beats the 30 minutes of trailers for the 50 super hero movies coming out next month that we get nowadays!

The other genre shorts on the first BFI set (there are two volumes thus far) include THE TELL-TALE HEART (1953), PORTRAIT OF A MATADOR (1958) and THE SEX VICTIMS (1973).

★★★