GHOST LAKE

Rebecca, after the death of her parents, which she partly blames herself for, decides to spend some time in the lakeside house where her parents used to spend their vacations. Intending to spend some time alone to meditate, she instead finds herself involved in a series of supernatural events: the spirits of people who drowned in the lake in the past are returning to claim new victims. After thorough research, Rebecca will realize that she is in the middle of a real ritual with the returners as the protagonists! «Ghost lake» is yet another mediocre product destined for the home video market only (in Italy distributed by the newly established «Gargoyle video», a company specializing in horror films), characterized by a not very original but acceptable story (at times it recalls the beautiful «Fog» by Carpenter), unfortunately exploited for a poorly made film. There is a noticeable lack of professionalism from the start in every aspect: the flat, very TV-like direction, the predictable and unnecessarily complex screenplay (written by the same director Woelfel); the annoying semi-patinated and obviously «fake» photography, the poor performance of the actors. Director Jay Woelfel acts a bit like a jack-of-all-trades by directing, writing, scoring, and acting in the film in question, but the only friendly advice that can be given, given the result obtained, is to take on fewer tasks, with the hope that he succeeds in at least one of the roles he plays (perhaps the role of composer suits him best, since the film's music is not bad). The film's cast are of the lowest category: the protagonist, played by the semi-debutant Tatum Adair, is much more interesting in terms of physical presence than in acting talent, while the rest of the cast is made up of little-known and unconvincing actors. Furthermore, another weak point of «Ghost lake» is the duration, as the film lasts 1 hour and 50 minutes, really excessive for a film of this kind! The only positive note is represented by the decent makeup of the zombies/ghosts, quite believable and disgusting; on the contrary, the rare digital effects leave much to be desired, but nothing else could be expected from a low-budget product like this. To be avoided, despite the suggestive poster.