Cabin by the Lake

Last updated
Cabin by the Lake
Cabin By The Lake Movie Poster.jpg
Movie Poster
GenreHorror
Thriller
Written byDavid Stephens
Directed by Po-Chih Leong
Starring Judd Nelson
Hedy Burress
Michael Weatherly
Music by Daniel Licht
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers Neal H. Moritz
Heather Lieberman
ProducersJohn V. Stuckmeyer
Judith Craig Marlin (associate producer)
Production location Vancouver
CinematographyPhilip Linzey
EditorDarren Kloomok
Running time91 minutes
Production companiesFoxtail Productions Inc.
Great Falls Productions
Original Film
Original release
ReleaseFebruary 1, 2000 (2000-02-01)

Cabin by the Lake is a horror TV movie released in 2000. It tells the story of Stanley, played by Judd Nelson, a script writer who begins killing girls for research for a movie he is writing, where the villain does the same thing. [1] A 2001 sequel titled Return to Cabin by the Lake follows Stanley's attempts to make a film based on his previous murders by posing as the film's director.

Contents

Plot

Screenwriter Stanley Caldwell lives in a cabin at the edge of Summit Lake. After speaking with his agent, Regan, over the phone, Stanley accesses a hidden room in his house revealing a young woman who is chained to the floor by her ankle. He greets the woman and calls her Kimberly as he places a plate of food in front of her. When he leaves the room, Kimberly walks over to the mirror and begins to cry, unaware that Stanley is studying her on the other side.

Afterwards, Stanley brings her a fresh change of clothes and instructs her to dress, before gagging her with an orange and binding her hands behind her back. He forcibly escorts her onto his boat and drives out to the middle of Summit Lake, where he ties a cement block around her ankles. Curious about her predicament, he asks Kimberly how she feels, but the terrified woman does not respond. Stanley then pushes her into the lake, but promptly pulls her back up by the hair to study her expression before letting her sink to the bottom.

Later, Stanley returns home to resume working on his script using the details he had gleaned from his latest victim. The next morning, he dives to the bottom of Summit Lake to tend his "garden", which consists of several women kidnapped and drowned in a similar fashion. Seeking yet another victim, Stanley discovers Mallory, a young woman working at a movie theater. Intrigued by her self-confessed fear of water, Stanley follows Mallory after she leaves work and swerves in front of her, slamming the brakes on his van and forcing their vehicles to collide.

After checking on Mallory, Stanley turns his attention to his dogs, which are heard barking from the van. When Mallory follows him, Stanley throws the back doors wide and pushes her into the van. The van is completely empty except for the recording of barking dogs, and an ominous message spelled out in yellow tape that reads, "I'm the person your mother warned you about." Stanley locks his new victim away in his secret room, but Mallory is defiant and shows him no fear.

Eventually, he lies to Mallory and tells her that he'll let her go free, but that she would have to face her fear and go for a ride on his boat. He then blindfolds her and drives around for a while to disorient her before they board the boat. Stanley attempts to drown her in the lake, but she is quickly rescued by local police officer Boone and a couple who owns a movie special-effects shop nearby. After taking time to recuperate, Mallory suggests making a plaster-mold of herself, with a camera as an eye, to catch the killer when he returns to his garden.

When Stanley returns to the bodies, he discovers the ploy and quickly escapes, his identity hidden by his scuba mask. Mallory stays at a hotel room for the night, but is soon located and recaptured by Stanley who immediately prepares to drown her again. However, complications arise when Stanley's agent Regan and the director of the film he is writing arrive at the cabin unexpectedly. He kills the director with a cleaver, then imprisons Regan with Mallory.

He takes both women to the lake to drown them, but Boone and the other police dive in and quickly release Mallory. Although Regan's body is recovered, Stanley is presumed dead, having snagged his leg on a rope in his own garden. Mallory tries to recover from the experience, though she continues to be haunted by memories of her former captor.

A person is pitching a movie to a new agent where a killer buries his victims alive. When the agent asks how the person feels as they are buried alive, the camera reveals the person to be Stanley with a new look, as he says "I'm still doing the research."

Cast

Reception

Critical reception for Cabin by the Lake and its sequel Return to Cabin by the Lake was largely negative. [2] Of the first film, Film Threat wrote that while the first act was entertaining, the remainder of the film "turns out to be just another movie that hasn’t found anywhere new to go." [3] The Palm Beach Post and Sun Sentinel both panned Cabin by the Lake, with the Palm Beach Post writing that the film "takes the horror genre to new TV lows". [4] [5]

Sequel

A sequel was made, titled Return to Cabin by the Lake . Judd Nelson reprised his role of Stanley Cauldwell, and Daniella Evangelista reprised her role as Kimberly Parsons.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Friday the 13th</i> (1980 film) Film by Sean S. Cunningham

Friday the 13th is a 1980 American independent slasher film produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, written by Victor Miller, and starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, and Kevin Bacon. Its plot follows a group of teenage camp counselors who are murdered one by one by an unknown killer while they are attempting to re-open an abandoned summer camp with a tragic past.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judd Nelson</span> American actor (born 1959)

Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie, John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbury in St. Elmo's Fire, Alex in Cybermutt, Joe Hunt in Billionaire Boys Club, Nick Peretti in New Jack City, Billy Beretti in Empire, and Jack Richmond in the television series Suddenly Susan.

<i>Kiss the Girls</i> (1997 film) 1997 film by Gary Fleder

Kiss the Girls is a 1997 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, and Cary Elwes. The screenplay by David Klass is based on James Patterson's best-selling 1995 novel of the same name. A sequel titled Along Came a Spider was released in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Voorhees</span> Fictional character in the Friday the 13th series

Pamela Voorhees is a fictional character and the overarching antagonist of the Friday the 13th series of horror films. She was created by Victor Miller, and first appeared in Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th (1980), played by Betsy Palmer. Pamela is the main antagonist of the first film, in which she is known only as Mrs. Voorhees, and remains an antagonistic presence in its sequels, in which she is seen mostly as a severed head or a figment of her son's imagination. In Friday the 13th Part III (1982), the character appears as a reanimated corpse in a hallucination, played by Marilyn Poucher. Paula Shaw played Pamela in the crossover Freddy vs. Jason (2003); according to Palmer in Friday The 13th Reunion, she was asked to reprise her role in the film, but turned it down after reading the script. Nana Visitor played Pamela in the 2009 reboot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan Ladd</span> American actress (born 1975)

Jordan Ladd is an American actress. The daughter of actress Cheryl Ladd and producer David Ladd, she initially worked with her mother in several made-for-television films, before making her big screen debut at 19, in the vampire film Embrace of the Vampire (1994). She subsequently appeared in the drama Nowhere (1997) and the comedy Never Been Kissed (1999). Ladd became known as a scream queen, having appeared in several successful horror films, including Cabin Fever (2002), Club Dread (2004), Death Proof (2007), and Grace (2009). Ladd is also known for work with director David Lynch appearing in his films Darkened Room (2002) and Inland Empire (2006).

<i>The Drowning Pool</i> (film) 1975 film by Stuart Rosenberg

The Drowning Pool is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, and based upon Ross Macdonald's novel of the same name. The film stars Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Franciosa, and is a loose sequel to Harper. The setting is shifted from California to Louisiana.

<i>Watchers</i> (film) 1988 film by Jon Hess

Watchers is a 1988 science fiction horror film directed by Jon Hess and starring Corey Haim, Michael Ironside, Barbara Williams and Lala Sloatman. It is loosely based on the 1987 novel Watchers by Dean R. Koontz.

<i>Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers</i> 1988 American black comedy slasher film by Michael A. Simpson

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is a 1988 American slasher film written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson. It is the second installment in the Sleepaway Camp film series, and stars Pamela Springsteen as Angela, and Renée Estevez. The film takes place five years after the events of the original, and features serial killer Angela, working as a counselor, murdering misbehaving teenagers at another summer camp.

<i>Wrong Turn 2: Dead End</i> 2007 slasher film by Joe Lynch

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End is a 2007 slasher film directed by Joe Lynch and starring Erica Leerhsen, Henry Rollins and Texas Battle. An international co-production between the United States and Canada. It is a sequel to Wrong Turn (2003) and the second installment in the Wrong Turn film series. The film received a positive response from critics and remains the best-reviewed film in the franchise. It grossed $9.2 million in home video sales.

Daniella Evangelista is a Canadian actress and model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lori Nelson</span> American actress and model (1933–2020)

Dixie Kay Nelson, known professionally as Lori Nelson, was an American actress and model mostly active in the 1950s and early 1960s. She had roles in the TV series How to Marry a Millionaire and the films Revenge of the Creature, All I Desire, and I Died a Thousand Times.

<i>Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell</i> 2001 film

Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell, known as Wishmaster 3: Devil Stone in the United Kingdom, is 2001 American fantasy horror film directed by Chris Angel and starring Jason Connery and A. J. Cook. It is the third installment of the Wishmaster series although John Novak replaces Andrew Divoff as the Djinn in the movie. It was the second direct-to-video sequel in the franchise and was filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

<i>Walking Tall: Lone Justice</i> 2007 American film

Walking Tall: Lone Justice is a 2007 American action film and direct-to-video sequel to 2004's Walking Tall and Walking Tall: The Payback, the film was directed by Tripp Reed and stars Kevin Sorbo, Haley Ramm and Jennifer Sipes.

<i>Forbidden Fruit</i> (1921 film) 1921 film

Forbidden Fruit is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Agnes Ayres, Forrest Stanley, Clarence Burton, and Kathlyn Williams. It is a remake of the 1915 film The Golden Chance, which was also directed by DeMille. The film survives in prints at George Eastman House and the Library of Congress.

<i>Assault of Darkness</i> 2009 Irish film

Assault of Darkness, also known as Legend of the Bog, is a 2009 Irish horror film by the production company Bog Bodies surrounding local lore in the swamplands outside of Dublin Ireland. The film's plot follows six strangers who come across an ancient evil in the murky bog and are pitted in a fight for survival. Each of the travelers has a tale of heroism that seemingly links them to the situation, and only a local archaeologist has the theories that may be able to save their lives.

<i>Lies & Illusions</i> 2009 American film

Lies & Illusions is a 2009 film directed by Tibor Takács starring Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr. A self-help author (Slater) becomes mixed up in a theft that involves a criminal.

<i>Destry Rides Again</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

Destry Rides Again is a 1932 American pre-Code Western movie starring Tom Mix and directed by Benjamin Stoloff. The film was based on a novel by Max Brand. The supporting cast includes Claudia Dell, ZaSu Pitts, and Francis Ford.

<i>World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries 2</i> 2011 British film

World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries 2 is a 2011 British horror film written by Kevin Gates, directed by Michael Bartlett and Gates and produced by Rob Weston. The film stars Alix Wilton Regan, Philip Brodie and Vicky Aracio. The film is a sequel to The Zombie Diaries.

<i>Return to Cabin by the Lake</i> 2001 film by Po-Chih Leong

Return to Cabin by the Lake is a 2001 American crime comedy telefilm, starring Judd Nelson. It was directed by Po-Chih Leong. The movie is a sequel to Cabin by the Lake.

<i>Lovers Lane</i> (2005 film) 2005 film by Brad Armstrong

Lovers Lane is a 2005 pornographic horror film written and directed by Brad Armstrong, and co-written by Stormy Daniels.

References

  1. ↑ Stone, Sally. "Nelson to star in 'Cabin by the Lake'". Portsmouth Daily Times. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  2. ↑ LECHNER, ERNESTO (February 2000). "'Cabin by the Lake' Built on Soggy Ground". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "CABIN BY THE LAKE". Film Threat. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  4. ↑ Thompson, Kevin. "Review: Cabin by the Lake". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  5. ↑ Jicha, Tom. "USA SCRAPES BOTTOM WITH LATEST MOVIE". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.