The Lost (2006)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Teenager Ray Pyle, having murdered two girls without consequence (his companions being successfully browbeaten into terrified acquiescence) eventually gets to the point where he goes on a murderous rampage.Allegedly based on two real-life cases, this film starts and ends with fairly savagely violent sequences with a long and seemingly endless central section in which Ray takes drugs, pursues an active sex life and behaves generally unpleasantly. I suppose that for gore fans there is a lot of gore in the closing section, but it is uncomfortably close to real life which makes it difficult to be emotionally isolated - it is more real life than fantasy horror.There is good acting here though I felt that Marc Senter, as Ray, overacted horribly, not to mention being possessed of an enormously distracting mole on his cheek. There is also some directorial style which makes the low budget stretch further than one might expect. There is also a prodigious amount of bad language.And I dare say I mentioned the extremely boring central section.

This is a weird movie to review. It is filed under a serial killer horror. But it is so-called based on a true event, well, it isn't. It clocks in at almost 2 hours and for the horror geeks, nothing really happens until the end. But the movie is saved by the excellent acting.This flick tells the story of Ray Pye but I am also in the lives of serial killers and let me say, Ray never existed. The only thing that came close was the Charles Schmid case. Just like Ray here Schmid was a short man who wore cowboy boots stuffed with newspapers and flattened cans to make him appear taller. He used lip balm, pancake makeup and created an artificial mole on his cheek. Schmid was sentenced to 50 years in prison but was stabbed 47 times by two fellow prisoners on March 10, 1975. He lost an eye and a kidney and died 20 days later. Schmid strangled Gretchen Fritz and her sister Wendy, earlier he killed Alleen Rowe.Nothing of that is shown in this flick were we have a lot of talking. But I said it before it is really the excellent acting that saves this slow builder. Towards the end we really got into some messy shots when Ray goes berserk. I would mention Marc Senter (Ray Pye) and Robin Sydney (Katherine Wallace) who really did an excellent job. Marc we knew from Cabin Fever 2, Robin from Wicked Lake. But there is more to see, Ed Lauter is in it as is Michael Bowen both know for years in too many flicks to mention. Dee Wallace has a small role (ET, The Howling, Hill Have Eyes)and for the perverted Misty Mundae is also in this flick doing what she can do best, walking naked full frontal. Here she's in her pseudonym Erin Brown. Still funny that she's not shaved or trimmed at all and still is popular by so many. Nevertheless, the movie goes on and it is over before you know it but it do has some slow parts in it. Maybe if they could have cut it to 90 minutes it would have been more interesting. If you like a good suspense then this is for you, it contains a lot of nudity, and the last scene is maybe a bit offending for some. Gore 1/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Stephen King's work is easy to synopsize and market because his premises are novel. There's a hotel that holds onto memories in "The Shining", a little girl who starts fires in "Firestarter", and a fan who goes nuts in "Misery". It's no surprise that King's work has been cannibalized to death by Hollywood because it's easily reduced to a marketing hook. Marketing King is like marketing a McDonald's hamburger. You know what you're getting. There aren't too many surprises. Jack Ketchum, though much admired by King, is a different kettle of fish. With the exception of "Off Season" and "Ladies Night", his work is not the stuff of Hollywood marketing hooks. The beauty of Ketchum is how he gets into his characters' dark heads. His work is much darker than KIng's and he makes few concessions to mainstream expectations. His horror lives in the house next door or in the mind of the person you're married to. Aside from "She Wakes", Ketchum steers pretty clear of the supernatural and focuses on the sort of people who get arrested every night on the news. Which brings me to "The Lost". It's about a sociopath, Ray Pye, who manipulates and bullies everyone around him. When not destroying other humans with a gun, he destroys them slowly by mere association. You don't want to meet the guy. You want to steer well clear of him. Especially if you're female. Now, this story has been done to death (in novels and films), but because Ketchum is Ketchum, his take on it is fascinating and chilling. The movie version of "The Lost" is less successful and less creepy than the novel because its horror is externalized. We get strange sound effects, bizarre editing shifts, and some interesting color treatments that attempt to internalize the mental dynamics, but what made "The Lost" book so disturbing is only half present here. Still, the movie is a good one. Marc Senter is strong and convincing as Ray Pye and Chris Sivertson's direction is solid. But because Ketchum's beauty is his point of view and not his plotting, the movie's plotting becomes predictable. It will come as no surprise to anyone that Pye goes on a rampage at the end after he is pushed into several corners from which he can't escape. Though the scenes of him blowing people away are potent, their power is diffused by their predictability. Part of me feels that Ketchum works better within the universe of the printed word. Poe is the same. The nature of King's work lends itself to cinematic translation, as does the work of James Patterson and Alistair McLean. With "The Lost", you get a smart, well made tale of horror, but you don't get the essence of Ketchum. You will only get that from a Ketchum novel. So if you can't translate Ketchum adequately to the silver screen, why see these movies? Well, that's the challenge for the filmmaker.

Chris Sivertson's "The Lost" is a rattlesnake lying in wait. You sense the rattle, but don't fully realize the danger until its fangs are buried deep... and it's a long way back to civilization!Marc Senter IS the amoral sociopath Ray Pye who limps around due to the smashed cans he uses in his boots as lifts. He is a pathetic punk, a sinister sadist, and I guarantee by the end, you will loathe him. This is the intent, and Senter brings Ray Pye to life in an extraordinary performance.When Ray murders two young women while camping in the woods, he catapults his two dim-witted companions into a frenzy of complicit mayhem. While he puts the moves on one young lady after another, the law grows ever more relentless on his trail."The Lost" is a roller coaster from the moment the film begins with Ray coming face to face with a beautiful, unsuspecting nude sunbather until the ending credits roll. This is no dot-to-dot-I-know-what-will-happen-next. Sure, you think you know, but you're always wrong. It isn't a pleasant film to watch, but instead, a nasty and powerful moonshine that burns going down and burns coming out!