Daily Movie Rec 5/21/24
Lake of the Dead (1958)
Directed by: Kåre Bergstrøm
Cinematography by: Ragnar Sørensen
Country: Norway
Plot:
Friends and acquaintances gather at a secluded lakeside cabin deep within an idyllic Norwegian forest where a woman's brother recently disappeared under mysterious circumstances. As the group investigates the disappearance, they offer competing theories about whether it was caused by murder, suicide, or supernatural possession. [Based on the 1942 novel by André Bjerke].
First Images:
A scenic forest lake, quiet but ominous, the still waters teasing dark untold secrets.
Last Images:
A man questioning how a crow's feather appeared in his hand, his fearful eyes wondering if he can trust his own mind.
Thoughts:
Like many Scandinavian horror films, Lake of the Dead's darkest nightmares occur in broad daylight, the gorgeous natural light of the Norwegian wilds shaped to brightly ominous effect by cinematographer Ragnar Sørensen - afternoon shadows out-menaced by direct sunlight while the lake's waters reflect an otherworldly glow across the characters' faces. The story pits believers in the supernatural against skeptics and rationalists: a shrink who posits that the brother killed himself in a fit of madness caused by repressed incestuous desire for his sister; a detective who thinks there was foul play, a murderer planting evidence to make it look like a suicide; an art critic who believes the brother is roaming around possessed by the ghost of a dead man who killed himself after killing his sister and her lover in a fit of jealous rage; and a novelist who is just scared and confused, not knowing what to believe (a character likely meant be the audience's vehicle for navigating the many conflicting theories and unsettling events). Lake of the Dead is an early prototype for the "Cabin in the Woods" subgenre, and despite an excess of exposition, it works its gothic psychological horror atmosphere to admirable effect at a time when the horror genre was still finding its footing.
Favorite Shot:
The camera moves ghostlike during a hallucinatory metanarrative flashback, floating through the brush, pushing past tree branches that grasp like disembodied hands until it hits the grassy shoreline, where we see a water lily drift serenely along the lake's surface. Cut to a stop-motion closeup of the lily rotting, turning black - its edges curling upwards like the deathly retractions of an insect's legs. Nature's bewitching facade hiding the corruption of madness and death that lies beneath.
Where to watch:
Shudder/Tubi
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