Text © Richard
Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet
Lovers Lane
Directed
by Jon Steven Ward
First Look International; Arrow Video; MVD
Visual
90 minutes, 1999 / 2023
www.facebook.com/loverslanemovie/
www.ArrowVideo.com
www.MVDVisual.com
Choices, choices, choices. This is a new 2K restoration from a 4K scan of the 35mm original. It is High Definition (1080p). But there are two choices of versions of it, one being the original full-frame 1.33:1 version, and the other the1.85:1 widescreen, with both having stereo audio and English subtitles. I am going to go for the original, because that is the kind of guy I am. However, please note, as the press release states, “This film contains a sequence of flashing lights which might affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.” I find it annoying, generally, but here we go.
Filmed around the Seattle area, this is your basic ‘80s style slasher (yes, even in the turn of the millennium, there was retro to the heyday of VHS). The prologue, which contains the only nudity, takes place on Valentine’s Day 13 years before the main story. This sets up the whole megillah, with hook-handed killings on said Lovers Lane (should it be “Lover’s” or “Lovers’”?). Rather than paradise by the dashboard lights, it’s death by a pointy hook. One of the assaulted is a cameo by Diedre Kilgore, who gets top billing for some reason.
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| Diedre Kilgore |
Michael is part of a group of friends; most of the females (including a nearly unrecognizable Anna Farris, the year before Scary Movie in 2000) are cheerleaders. Mandy is not part of this group because she is considered too nerdy; she actually reads…books. It is almost quaint now, just over 20 years later, that when someone is grounded, they are forbidden from television, radio and phone. No mention of computers nor the Internet at all, which was just starting to be a social thing.
It being Valentine’s Day again, the group of athletes and cheerleaders end up on said Lovers Lane, with hook-man mainly interested in three, who related to those he killed that night, and one related to his psychiatrist. But even before they get there (and I am at that point), you know the rest of the group are going to be collateral damage as the body count. You might say they get hooked into being there…sorry.
Anna Farris, Erin J. Dean
While this is occasionally self-referential to the slasher genre, just past its prime, it falls into several cliches, and I wonder if this was done on purpose, though I found it kind of annoying. For example, every possible bad choice made in the 1980s era is reproduced here. For example, running up the stairs rather than out the door, incapacitating the villain and then leaving without killing the dude and then discarding the weapon, and getting in a car and just driving a short distance rather than getting the hell out of there to get the police.
Another thing is the searching in the dark, a pet peeve of mine, even more than someone tripping; to me. Just turn on the dam lights. They do this a lot now on television police procedurals these days. Invariably I yell at the screen. There is the walking around with a flashlight in a house that is still occupied just seems pointless, and does not build suspense, but agitation, especially when the scenes are extended; it is what ruined 1981’s Hell Night for me. Of course, there are jump scares when this happens, but I come to expect it, so it is hardly effective.
Sarah Lancaster
The biggest problem, however, is that many of the nighttime images, as well as indoors with a flashlight, are substantially dark and it is hard to make out the action. Nowadays, it probably would be shot day-for-night with a blue filter, but back then, with low budget, darkness reigns.
I thought I saw the twist at the end coming, and I was partially right as there are multiple developments. That helped redeem this significantly, although is not drenched in blood onscreen (or it was too dark to see clearly; again, low budget + time period effects availability), there are lots of murders (or as they say in my neck of the woods, moidahs).
Matt Riedy
The extras on the Blu-ray
starts with a brand-new audio commentary with writers and-producers Geof Miller
and Rory Veal. It is everything you would expect, giving anecdotes about the construction
of the film, the actors, production secrets (e.g., the first murder being
filmed in one of the writer’s garage, or – and I am ashamed to say I missed
this – one location is referred to by a character as Yasgur’s Farm), and the
like. Thankfully, because they really are friends, there is a likeability and
humor between them that takes it to another level.
The documentary featurette is “Screaming Teens: The Legacy of Lovers Lane” (32 min) with actors Matt Riedy, who plays Mandy’s sheriff father, and an extremely exuberant Carter Roy, who is only in the prologue, but mostly, it is Miller and Veal. It is a mixture of interviews and film clips, but it was entertaining and informative as well. Worth the watch. Last are the original trailers, an image gallery and physically a reversible sleeve featuring both the original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady.
Thankfully, there is a
recurring sense of humor that runs through the film, and there are references
galore scattered throughout. And this is a bit of a side note, but I wish I had
a dollar for every time Mandy screams out, “Michael!” in the third act. I could
retire.
Obviously, this is loosely
based on the old urban legend of the couple driving away from a lovers lane after
getting scared, and they find a hook attached to the car door. This film isn’t
exactly rocket science, and the writing definitely follows a formula (one of
the writers, during the commentary, discusses tropes and says “it’s littered with
them”), but the thing about formulas is that they tend to work, which is why
they are used so often. All the boxes are checked, and the number of bodies are
added up, which is just what the slasher doctor ordered.
IMDB listing HERE
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