The Lost [DVD]

Jack Ketchum's novel from which this film has been adapted was set during the mid to late 1960s. The film version is a little more ambiguous as regards when the story occurs. Modern cars and cordless telephones are much in evidence, but the central character, Ray Pye (Marc Senter), has a definite retro look about him. With his immaculately coiffured hair and discreetly applied make-up, there's something of Alex from `A Clockwork Orange' about him. He believes himself to be the epitome of cool; a party animal that the slightly younger kids are in awe of.

Only two, Jennifer and Tim (Shay Astar and Alex Frost), know that Ray is a cold-blooded murderer. The film opens with his brutal slaying of two young women (Erin Brown and Ruby LaRocca) at a local campsite. It is this event that casts its shadow across the remainder of the story, reaching, years later, into the lives of several of the inhabitants of the town of Sparta.

Although the film is a faithful retelling of the novel in terms of events, there is, I suppose necessarily, something lost in terms of charaterisation. This is particularly true of Detective Charlie Schilling (Michael Bowen), Ed Anderson (Ed Lauter) and Sally Richmond (Megan Henning). Retired police officer Ed Anderson has recklessly embarked on a love affair with Sally, an eighteen-year-old student. Their relationship is not explored in any depth and Ed's rollercoaster feelings of guilt and elation are nowhere near as prominent in the film as they were in the novel. Similarly, Schilling's obsessive angst at the police's failure to nail Ray Pye for the double murder is not apparent enough.

A slight disappointment, for me, was Robin Sydney's performance as bad-girl wannabee Katherine Wallace. In my opinion, she was miscast in this role. Her dialogue is indistinct in places and her body language is unconvincing in this role of the confident young woman whom Ray Pye falls for. Additionally, the soundtrack music is unnecessarily overbearing at times. Yes, we know horrible things are happening, and we know Ray Pye is a sick and twisted individual, but we don't need skull-pounding noise to remind us of that.

For the most part, however, this is a stylish horror film. Marc Senter is superb as the demented Ray Pye, and aside from the already mentioned reservations, the rest of the cast is excellent. The violence is powerfully depicted and horrifying to behold.

There is an interesting audio commentary from Jack Ketchum which should appeal to his fans as he talks about his various writing projects. The bonus material also gives us a look at Robin Sydney's and Shay Astar's auditions. For those who have read the novel, you may be interested to know that the scene where Ray steals some beer from a convenience store while Katherine, ahem, distracts the clerk is missing from the film. The good news is that it does appear in the deleted scenes.

Ray Pye and his two friends (Jennifer and Tim) are out in the woods drinking and fooling around, Ray goes off to relieve himself when he comes across a naked woman who looks embarrassed and explains she didn't know anyone else was around. Ray secretly follows her to another naked woman sunbathing, she obviously tells her friend that there's other people about as they both get dressed. Ray goes back to his friends and tells them about what he's seen, he talks about how perfect their bodies are which clearly annoys Jennifer who appears jealous. Jennifer insists that they should just go home as all the beers are gone, but it's very clear that in this group what Ray says goes. What I can only assume is a couple of hours later as bright daylight has been replaced by night, the three friends watch the two girls from a distance. The girls are there as it appears one of them has broken up with an abusive partner. When Ray witnesses one of the girls attempt to comfort the other, he assumes that they're lesbians and suggests they kill them. Moments later a shot rings out and blood splatters as Ray and his rifle feed his new found bloodlust, in no time at all one of the girls is dead and the other badly wounded. Ray talks Tim into taking Jennifer to his storage shed to get spades to bury the bodies, Ray then proceeds to eat the girls food and start packing up their camping equipment, when he suddenly realises that the wounded girl has gone. He chases after the girl but stops when she makes it to the road and a car stops, Ray stops in his tracks and the girl is helped into the car and the screen fades to black.

4 years later and Detective Schilling is in a bar knocking back whiskeys, he tells his former partner that the girl had died after a 4 year fight on life support. The two had worked on the case and were convinced Ray Pye was the killer, but with no evidence the case has remained unsolved. After a visit to the girls mother, he sees that see has become an alcoholic and her life is a mess. Detective Schilling starts to put pressure on Ray, he makes it obvious that he knows Ray killed the girls. Ray who is now in a sexual relationship with Jennifer, starts seeing a girl called Katherine and also chases after Sally who works at his mothers motel. With Schilling piling on the pressure and more than one of the women rejecting him, his grip on sanity starts slipping and it's a matter of time before his killing spree continues.

The acting took me by surprise, nearly every cast member gives good performances. Marc Senter as Ray was excellent for the most part, despite his looks and frame he gives an intimidating and often creepy performance. Shay Astar and Alex Frost do decent jobs as Jennifer and Tim, they spend most of the film cowering to Ray. The standout for me personally was Michael Bowen as Detective Schilling, he dominates every scene he's in and plays the role of the man who knows Ray is guilty but can't prove it to perfection. Two scenes in particular when he talks to Ray in the motel, and again when he's breaking up a party Ray is throwing are superbly acted. Robin Sydney is possibly a little miscast, but still produces a worthy performance. Ed Lauter is good as Schillings ex partner, and horror legend Dee Wallace makes a quick appearance as the murdered girls alcoholic and distraught mother. It's really well directed by Chris Sivertson, he followed this up the following year with the appalling Lindsay Lohan vehicle I Know Who Killed Me. If you've seen I Know Who Killed Me I could fully understand you being put off by The Lost, but it really is superior in every way and shouldn't be avoided purely down to that. Everything is well done for a low budget feature, it doesn't look cheap, the editing, cinematography and pace are all good. I really liked the small town setting. The soundtrack was a little annoying at times, suddenly loud, fast music would blast out and I found it jarring, but it's a small quibble. The girls are very attractive and show a bit of boob here and there, the blood and gore is absent after the first 10 minutes up until the final 15 minutes or so, but it's well done.

The film is based on the Jack Ketchum novel of the same name, i've never read the novel so I don't know how closely it sticks to it. The Lost is the fourth film i've seen based on Jack Ketchum's novels, and i've really enjoyed them all. The Girl Next Door, Red and to a lesser degree Offspring are all worth checking out, I haven't seen The Woman yet but i've heard nothing but praise for it from people I know. There's a distinct lack of extras on the disc, a very enjoyable commentary from Jack Ketchum where he mostly talks about his relationship with the director's who have filmed his novels, and there's the auditions from a few of the actors in the film.

The Lost is much more a drama than a horror, so be careful if you are buying this for a good scare. Not much actually happens after the murder of the two girls in the first fifteen minutes, until the point when Ray finally snaps. Some may find it slow and boring for about an hour in the middle, I thought there was more than enough character development and the well above average acting ensured I was never bored. Any fans of the other films based on Jack Ketchum's novels should like this, if you've read and loved the book then as usual the film may not live upto it but I wouldn't know having not read it. There is only English subtitles, so if you require subtitles in any other language you're out of luck.

`The Lost` is a movie about a teenage sociopath who savagely murders
two women and dominates his friends into covering up for him.Four years
later the authorities know the culprit who committed the crime,Ray Pye,
just struggle to prove it.Unknown to them something inside Ray is beginning
to snap and it's just a matter of time before he strikes again.

`The Lost` is a decent,well acted but flawed movie about abusive relationships,
love and murder.I found it to be weak and slow but great in terms of character
development and drama.For a so-called horror movie it's pretty tame.The character
of Ray Pye seems to have this effect of staying with you though.There is some kind of
retro slick thing about him.