Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Lake of the Dead Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 27, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as a part of All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror.

All the Haunts Be Ours advertises itself as "the most comprehensive collection of its kind", which may initially beg the question as to "kind of what?". But the release also comes with a front cover sobriquet proclaiming it "a compendium of folk horror", which may then beg the next obvious question as to what exactly "folk horror" is. In that regard, this set begins with a fascinating and diverse documentary which has its own subtitle referencing folk horror, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, which provides a veritable glut of clips from international films which director (and this entire set's guiding light) Kier-La Janisse has assembled to help define the genre, but perhaps the best answer is to simply echo a certain Supreme Court Justice named Potter Stewart who was trying to decide a case involving supposed pornography, and who famously opined, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it. . ."

There's something at least somewhat akin to the delightful "meta" murderous shenanigans in Deathtrap at play in Lake of the Dead, though this fun 1958 Norwegian production perhaps understandably doesn't embrace some of the same overt convolutions of the Ira Levin piece. Much as with Deathtrap, there's a mystery writer at the center of the story, in this case Bernhard Borge (Henki Kolstad), and in fact an opening voiceover set to appropriate imagery seems to be part of a developing narrative, but turns out to be a depiction of another narrative entirely, namely a story that Borge has been writing. Already the "meta" layers are being exploited, if subtly.

What ensues when Borge, his wife, and a small cohort journey for a weekend in the country might be characterized as one part Cabin in the Woods and one part Dementia 13, the first courtesy of the location the characters end up in, and the second due to a kind of quasi-ghost story that has significant ties to a lake. There's also the same kind of time honored conceit that has been utilized as recently as in Mid-Century, wherein a location may be haunted by the spirit of a nefarious former inhabitant. The isolated location may obviously be a world away (in more ways than one) from an urban paradise designed by a quasi-Frank Lloyd Wright, and that might initially bring to mind visions of forest spirits and sprites, but Lake of the Dead kind of wants to have its paranormal cake and eat its everyday reality, too.

What initially seems like it's going to be a hunt for a missing individual whom Borge expected to find at the cabin in the woods soon takes on a spooky, otherworldly quality that itself relies on more meta material, as in the structurally kind of odd reading from a journal entry which turns into a vignette at around the 25 minute mark and which gives the film a decidedly supernatural aura. That supernaturalism continues apace in a story that also involves a good deal of subterfuge, a jilted lover and just for good measure telepathy and sleepwalking. The finale has a classic "Moishe the Explainer" sequence with all of the characters getting the lowdown on what's just occurred, albeit kind of interestingly in this instance, without a "culprit" being divulged since that aspect has already been taken care of.

Lake of the Dead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lake of the Dead is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Severin's insert booklet states this has been "restored in 2K from the original negative", and the results are often quite striking. The black and white cinematography is well represented here, with strong contrast and good black levels, and with a prevalence of midrange and close-ups tending to support very good to excellent fine detail levels. There are rough patches, including the opening credits and some later opticals, and unless there were some inartful edits, there is a missing frame or two. Other minor damage has made it through the restoration gauntlet, but nothing of any major import. Grain resolves naturally throughout.

Lake of the Dead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lake of the Dead features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track in the original Norwegian. While there's never anything overly problematic here, you can clearly hear crackling and hiss from the get go, and there continue to be occasional pops along the way. That said, this track has a better sounding high end than some of its siblings in the All the Haunts Be Ours set, and that redounds to the benefit of both the omnipresent water effects and some of the harp cues in particular. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Lake of the Dead Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Film Historians Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons

Lake of the Dead Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is another entry in All the Haunts Be Ours where one's "definition" of what "folk horror" means may or may not align with what the film has to offer. There are some spooky atavistic elements at play here, especially with regard to the evocative setting, but the actual "mystery" kind of turns out to be surprisingly tawdry, if, again, tinged with just the hint of the supernatural. Technical merits are generally solid and the commentary by Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons is both entertaining and informative. Recommended.