Directed by Chris Sivertson
Starring Dee Wallace-Stone
Ed Lauter
Katie Cassidy
Marc Senter
Megan Henning
Michael Bowen
Misty Mundae Robin Sydney
Evoking a lot of the primal horror of Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left," "The Lost" is a disturbing little horror movie, which feels all too real given the real-life horrors we have seen in America since 1999's Littleton massacre.
Based on a novel by Jack Ketchum, the horror author whose "The Girl Next Door" was based on real events, this story is apparently based on real events too. Although doing a brief Google search on the subject didn't yield any results on what those events were.
Filled with sex and extreme violence, the movie feels like something that could have been released in the 1970s or maybe early '80s. Its opening shot, of its evil protagonist Ray Pye (Marc Senter), walking through the woods and stumbling across an outhouse which a naked woman pops out of, is actually pretty shocking, considering this film was made in the politically correct day and age we live in.
The film's opening scene has Pye killing off two girls in the woods, one of whom basically spurned him. His two best friends -- a girl frined (Shay Astar) and a push-over buddy -- are witnesses to the crime but don't turn him in.
The film flash forwards a few years. Pye is working in his mother's motel. When a new girl is hired as a housekeeper, he makes a pass at her, only to have his advances spurned yet again. This -- and some other bad news, including a new girl in town (Robin Sydney) who also dates, then dumps him, and a cop on his tail -- lead him to have a psychological breakdown. Ultimately, he kidnaps every surviving woman that spurned him and takes them to the location of the original killing for another total massacre. It's difficult to tell what decade this movie is set in. The novel is apparently set in the 1960s, but this film feels more present day, despite Pye's slicked black hair. The nihilism of its characters -- some of whom know Pye is a killer but hang out, and even sleep with hi anyway -- also give the film kind of a "River's Edge" feel.
The film is no masterpiece and it drags during its middle section. A short cameo by Dee Wallace (of "The Howling" fame) as the mother of one of the first victims seems tacked on and unnnecessary. But there's an interesting sleaze factor to the movie that we really haven't seen much of in films since the 1980s. It is not politically correct, by any stretch of the imagination. Frankly, this stuff is probably too strong for cable.
The film's ending is terrifying because, given the events of Littleton and other massacres, it's true to life, unfortunately. But the film ends a little too suddenly. Given that it's supposed to be based upon true events, it could have used some sort of wrap up, telling us what ulimately became of Pye.
The film was made in 2005, but it took three years for it finally to make its way to a direct-to-DVD release, and in the meantime director Chris Sivertson helmed the Lindsay Lohan Razzie-winner "I Know Who Killed Me." Misty Mundate also stars under the name Erin Brown.
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-- Review by Lucius Gore
Posted by Sarah on April 6, 2008 Hey does anyone know the song in the credits ive been trying to find it out
Posted by on November 4, 2009
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