Jack Ketchum’s novel is brought to the screen, but the filmmakers may have slightly erred by sticking too close to Ketchum’s work. The film is good, but I think that The Girl Next Door was a more compelling film.
Ray Pye (Marc Senter) is a guy so vain that he wears makeup, sports a fake beauty mark, and puts crushed beer cans in his boots so he’ll look taller. He’s walking through the woods to an outhouse when the door opens and a nude girl (Erin Brown aka Misty Mundae) appears.
She’s noticeably embarrassed, but Ray follows her back to her camp where she’s with her friend. Ray goes back to his drunken friends Jennifer (Shay Astar) and Tim (Alex Frost). Ray decides that they’re going to go back and kill the girls, which he does. He sends Jennifer and Tim to get a shovel so they can bury the bodies. One of the girls isn’t quite dead yet and is able to escape.
Years later, the girl dies after being in a coma. Detective Charles Schilling (Charles Bowen) has been trying to make the case stick to Ray Pye, but as he grouses to his retired partner Ed (Ed Lauter), he’s been unable to find evidence to convict him.
Ray is attracted to the new girl in town, Katherine (Robin Syndey), and also flirting with the new cleaning girl, Sally (Megan Henning), at his mother’s motel. After being shot down by both girls, Ray will finally snap and hell hath no fury like a psycho with a rifle.
The Lost makes its way to DVD after an adaptation of another Ketchum novel, The Girl Next Door. The Lost was shot two years before The Girl Next Door and might’ve benefited from coming after. The filmmakers, the director went on to shoot the Lindsey Lohan film I Know Who Killed Me (and my career), expressed an interest to Ketchum, as he recounts in the commentary, to stick as close to the book as possible.
This might’ve been a mistake as the film runs nearly two hours and might’ve benefited from some cutting. The film is still good and has some good acting but it comes from Shay Astar.
Marc Senter is decent, but goes a little too over-the-top in the grand finale. The blood does flow during these scenes and is really quite disturbing as Ray tortures those he holds hostage. The things that work against the film are the length and some of the histrionics.
The Lost is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by Ketchum and fellow novelist Monica O’Rourke. Next is 6 minutes of audition footage, 16 minutes of outtakes, and a 3-minute storyboard sequence.
The Lost has some pretty intense scenes in it but doesn’t come close to The Girl Next Door. I found it could’ve been shorn of anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes and the tightening would’ve helped the narrative. It did have its moments.
Jack Ketchum’s The Lost is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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