By Mike Szymanski
Story
Three sisters--Sam (
Tara Gerard), Brielle (Kelsey Crane) and Kelli (Kelsey Weeden)--hear about the death of their grandfather, and they come together to figure out their inheritance. Seems Grandpa has left them a motel on the lake "in the middle of nowhere,” so the girls head on down, bringing along some of their friends and co-workers who have a complex history of sleeping with each other. Very quickly, the sisters find that a sick family of redneck weirdos have already moved into the motel, who have their own traditions that include necrophilia, incest and depravity. The local police aren't much help. In fact, Sheriff Chuck (
James C. Burns) is having an affair with his mother and plans to do the same with the sisters. After all, he wants to keep it all in the family.
Acting
This is one of those movies in which the acting and the nudity go hand-in-hand rather succinctly. In the case of
Lake Dead, that featured moment goes to Matea Richardson as Tanya, the sexy office slut who accompanies the sisters to the lake. She ends up seducing a guy in the woods and flaunting herself, so it's not a surprise she ends up with a pickaxe in her cheek (and that's not giving away too much).
Tara Gerard, the alcoholic sister, may be recognized as the winner of Fox's reality show
Paradise Hotel. And that pretty much highlights
Lake Dead’s talent pool.
Direction
Director
George Bessudo credits his favorite film influences as
Poltergeist,
Jaws,
Amityville Horror and
When a Stranger Calls. Elements of all of those classics come into play in
Lake Dead in some form or another, such as the way the camera follows the cast around in the woods and less-is-more style of the kill scenes. The screenwriter, Dan Coughlin, also puts a spin on the kids-in-the-woods horror movie in a new and clever way. Fans of the genre should remember
Bessudo when his next scary movie
Farmhouse is released.