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Haven’t people ever heard of hotels before?
No one ever dies at Coney Island. What about visiting relatives? Why do
people choose to go to these remote lake houses in the middle of nowhere
where they’re stalked by monsters and axe murderers? It boggles the
mind. It’s no wonder why I’ll never visit one, because the funny guy
always goes first, and I’m not ready to die with a memorable one-liner.
Marc Buhmann’s little horror ditty is rather unsettling, and from the
get go sets itself up to be one of the truly disconcerting horror
experiences in a while.
Something is killing people in this lake
house by the water, and we’re not sure what it is.
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Zombies? A monster? Demons?
Ghosts? Keanu Reeves trying to claim his mailbox?
Regardless, director Buhmann makes wonderful use of his
remote scenery adding a so beautiful its horrific theme only
present in Munch paintings. Buhmann’s film is a mixture of
“The Haunting” with “The Evil Dead” where these people are
trapped in this house that transforms from a luxurious
getaway to a tomb. |
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Buhmann manages to build tension with
enough success to create a competent horror film for anyone seeking
a unique entry into the zombie sub-genre, and the jolting surprise
ending will really leave audiences talking.
From the beginning, writer David Moore truly
seems to be conflicted as to where he’s taking this story. Many times he
plods along feeling his zone, and I could never make up my mind if
having zombies was the intended monster for the film. “Dead in the
Water” ultimately feels extremely similar to an episode of Nickelodeon’s
“Are you Afraid of the Dark?” and while it’s much more extreme, I could
never shake off that suspicion, especially when these zombies seemed
similar to the former. Were they zombies or not? Were they flesh eaters,
or biters? If they were zombies, why could they be ward off by an
exorcism?
Meanwhile, warming up to these characters
would be a demanding affair. Aside from the weak acting, besides Megan
Burgess who is extremely over the top, these characters are pure morons.
These people are pure morons. You figure after discovering a severed arm
they’d high tail it out of there, instead they sit to talk about it, and
then decide to leave when it’s too late to. And then when they discover
zombies are attacking them, they seem very ho-hum about it in the end.
Even though most of the scenarios are intended as self aware, it comes
off as awkward for a film playing it straight faced from the beginning.
The attempts at camp often fall flat, and miss their mark, especially
when the origins of the zombies are hazy through and through.
Buhmann's film is not perfect, nor is it the exact sort of film I
expected from the start, but beyond its flat comedy, acting, it's still
a rather unsettling and intriguing piece of indie horror.
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