Review: The Lake

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

The Lake
Directed by Lee Thongkham; Aging Xu
Epic Pictures Group; Dread; Hollywood Thailand; Airspeed Pictures; Creative Motion; Thongkham Films; Right Beyond; MVD Visual
104 minutes, 2022 / 2023
www.facebook.com/TheLake2019
https://mvdb2b.com/s/TheLake/EP-202303

I like slasher films. I tolerate body horror. But if you want to really pique my interest, give me a good ghost story or especially a creature feature. This release from Thailand falls into the last category.

Bueng Kan is a town on Baan Nakom Lake near the Mekong River, just a stone’s throw from the Laos border. Living in this lake is the beastie, a scaley thing that has no problem chompin’ on human flesh and seems to be attracted by frogs. Perhaps this is something in the local culture? Also, a huge egg has been found on the shore.

The two-foot-tall egg is brought home, and protected by a young girl from the village, May (Wanmai Chatborirak). She lives with her missing father, sister Lin (Sushar Manaying) and drunkard brother-in-law, Keng (Thanachat Tunyachat)…or is it brother and sister-in-law? I am not sure, but it really is not important.

In a very short time – no waiting until the third act – the creature is on the loose and angry, looking for love…I mean, looking for the egg. It goes into the city and causes lots of damage, yet for a long time the authorities are only finding the aftereffects of its actions. Whaaaat?

Along the way of rampaging, Keng gets…bitten? …clawed? by our grumpy beast, creating a bond between them, so Keng feels the physical manifestations of what is happening to the monster. This is an interesting concept. But it is still early.

Further along, we meet a Police Inspector, James (Teerapat Satjakul), and his daughter, Pam (Supansa Wedkama). They are argumentative with each other, but if this follows along the trope line, the monster will get them together again. I will not say if I am right or wrong, but at 47 minutes in, that is my guess.

The creature looks good, and we get to see it in its full glory early on, with a large percentage use of full-sized SFX body, or occasional a full-body motion CGI. When it is the full-scale version, it uses animatronics quite effectively. In the personal encounters with human, we see quick edits, making it a bit hard to see the entire creature in context, but honestly, this is to be expected from a relatively low budget film, and I am not disappointed by it. I found myself smiling during the creatures’ attacks. Yes, plural.

Was this filmed during monsoon season? There is an awful lot of scenes in hard rain, and I am not sure if it is natural, if the director meant it to symbolize the oppression of the people by the monster and/or vice-versa, or making it harder to distinguish the carnage (again, budget).

While I have seen this in comparison with The Host (2006), which is totally understandable, but it is closer to a scaled-down Godzilla, and in tone and storyline to the British release, Gorgo (1961), with a monster mama searching for her youngns’. The creature is designed by Jordu Schell, who has worked on tons of movies the likes of Dawn of the Dead (2004), Avatar (2009), and The Cabin in the Woods (2011).

Certainly, there are going to be comparisons with Jurassic Park (1993), especially the scene with the T-Rex introduction. Also, the heads of two of the prehistoric looking beasts here look a bit like at a couple of the dinos in that film. Hey, if it works.

My one complaint, as I often opine, is that it is too long, and really needs some editing down at least 15 minutes. That being said, the first of the extras on the Blu-ray are two deleted scenes (1:23 min; 37 sec, respectively), which are honestly meaningless out of context. They also fit better into the a behind the scenes category. Speaking of which, there are a half dozen “Behind the Scenes” – er – scenes, most of which are under a minute, but give a good look at the monster. And to add more time, there is the “Extended Ending” (12 min), which was the source of the “Behind the Scenes” footage. And ironically enough, even though it was much longer than the final ending, this was actually better.

“The Scoop Featurette” (4 min) is a promo for the film, as well as for Thai cinema. It is fun to watch and enjoy the excitement of the announcer. The last are two The Lake trailers (worldwide and Thai) and a half-dozen others by the Dread brand.

One of the subtle aspects of this release is a religious element which is only touched on, regarding a monk. However, it is more prevalent in the extended ending, and fits better into the storyline motif.

I am not sure if they intend to make a sequel or perhaps even a franchise, but I am guessing it depends on how well it does on the VoD and digital market.

IMDB listing HERE

Review: Woman of the Photographs

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

Woman of the Photographs (aka Shashin no onna; 写真の女)
Directed by Takeshi Kushida
Motion Picture Exchange; Pyramid Film; Epic Pictures; Dread; MVD Visual
89 minutes, 2020 / 2023
https://epic-pictures.com/film/woman-of-the-photographs
https://womanofthephoto.com/en/
www.MVDVisual.com

Body dysmorphia is a recent buzzword in the news thanks to the attacks on the Trans community. The term, however, is much older, and it has been often used to describe women and more recently men who are not pleased by their own bodies due to seeing, for example, the models in magazines, especially though it is idealistic as many of those images have been digitally enhanced. The desire to appear “picture perfect” is an unrealistic goal and can cause other maladies such as bulimia and anorexia.

In this Japanese release (both English and Spanish subtitles are available), Kai (Hideki Nagai) is a subdued, solitary, early-middle-aged photographer who tends to wear all white (I am guessing as a metaphor for a colorless life). When he is not out in nature snapping pics (he has a fixation with insects, and even has a preying mantis as a pet), he runs a photo shop where he uses his talent of digital manipulation to enhance either old or new photographs for his customers. There is almost no dialogue by Kai to emphasize his quiet life. A slow-burn film, indeed.

Hideki Nagai

Along the way, he meets Kyoko (Itsuki Otaki), an internet influencer/model/ballet dancer, who is aging out of the youthfulness that was her bread-n-buttah. She is lively and talkative, and he is aggressively silent and ignoring (yeah, kind of a dick). While their personalities are quite different, there is a common element of the need to control their own “image”: she to her fans and him by putting up walls of exclusion.

There are only two other characters in the film, the first being a funeral director, Saijo (Toshiaki Inomata), an older man who uses the retoucher’s skill for pictures of the deceased during the ceremonies, and has known Kai his whole life being a friend of his father and thereby being both a spokesperson for Kai to Kyoko, as well as a Greek Chorus for the viewer. The other is Hisako (Toki Koinuma), a woman customer obsessed with her looks, and keeps demanding Kai repeatedly retouch her photo into what she considers perfection.

Itsuki Otaki

At its core, this is a film about obsession: Kail obsesses about his insects, Kyoko keeps looking at old posts of her photographs (which occasionally includes well-done CGI animation), the female customer with changing her looks, and the old friend with his loneliness (despite claiming he is not).

Although an extremely small cast, I am guessing this was shot just before the COVID outbreak, since there is a scene in a public bath, and no one on the streets is wearing masks; also, the budget for this film is not enough to get the sidewalk shut down for filming.

I am not sure if this can be considered as “horror” or even a “thriller,” but it definitely falls into the “art” category. That being said, it certainly has its body horror moments involving an injury (I will not give it away), which is squeamish inducing (well, for me anyway).

I question the relationship between Kai and Kyoto as beyond temporary need and infatuation with what they can bring to the pairing; even though they become more themselves by giving to each other. Certainly, this is a snapshot (no pun intended) of their time as a couple, as it does not seem that it can sustain the pressure of day-to-day reality, and aging. But in an odd way, this is a very strange and off-beat romance, without Hallmark-ish cringe.

The extras start with interviews (16 min; Japanese with subtitles), including the director, Kushida, and the main actors, Nagai and Otaki, as well as make-up artist Yoshiro Nishimura. It is insightful as they discuss the motivations of the characters and the meaning of some obtuse moments. It is a good post-film watch.

This is followed by a short film, “Voice” (Koe; 10 min, trailer HERE), in which Kushida first worked with Nagai. It is without dialogue, of how a lonely factory worker (Nagai) responds and interacts with a shadow of a woman. It reminds me of the work of ground-breaking Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren. It is a beautiful piece, and Nagai again acts more with his face and body to convey all the emotions needed. There is also a nice level of animation that is not cartoonish. Last, there are two trailers for this film and a few from Dread.

This is director Kushida’s first feature film, that he also wrote, after years of working in television. It shows enormous talent in form and look. He should have a long and storied career.

IMDB listing HERE