Cabin by the Lake

I'll tell ya, I feel sorry for Judd Nelson and all the bad rap he gets; as far as his performance in this movie goes, he totally maintains the mood. Cabin by the Lake is a made-for-tv movie originally aired on USA, however, I now own it and it's sequel on dvd. (amazon.com) If you're looking to hand out oscars you might consider overlooking this one, but if you're looking to be entertained (as cheesily as possible) this is it! I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, everything is quirky from the acting to the music. The underwater scenes were done quite nicely, and the soundtrack isn't so bad either...however it's hard to find any other song from the movie other than "Cure" by the Wild Colonials. If you're a fan of Judd Nelson, serial killer movies, and overall cheesy fun, you'll be sure to add this flick to your collection so you can watch it over and over again. If you liked this movie, check out it's sequel...Return to Cabin by the Lake...it's really DEEP! ;)

It's not perfect but I like it, it's good! I liked all the actors but specially Hedy Burress as Mallory and Judd Nelson as the writer serial killer Stanley. The music is great too. I repeat, the film is not perfect, it has some weaknesses, I will not reveal them here, but even so, it's still captivating. It's not easy to give it some stars, precisely because of those imperfections. Here's what I'm going to do: the first hour of the movie, is excellent, is worth 10 stars. The remaining 31 minutes are not worth more than 4 stars. 10 plus 4 divided by 2 equals seven. And, if you haven't noticed already reading this review or from other reviews of mine for many other movies, I try with all sincerity to be the most critical objective possible, from all points of view.

I enjoyed the movie then again i am a sucker for these kind of movies.. in this one Stanley is a, quoted from the sequel, "missunderstood genuis".. But i guess its one of the movies that you have to enjoy the physcological things to get it and to enjoy it.

As for the second one, like most sequels, its not the best.. it seems (and i am watching it as i type this) in return to cabin by the lake, Stanley has lost some of his "vision" and it just more interested it getting revenge on the directors, producers, ect. for butchering his script...

I have seen this movie many times and enjoy it every time. The sequel is not too bad either but the first one is definitely better. I thought the plot was very good. It was much better than someone getting their head chopped off every 5 minutes. I especially loved the music, it is as creepy as the movie. Definitely my kind of movie and my kind of music. I thought the underwater scenes very good, pretty realistic. It wasn't until i watched it again recently that I realized the actor that played the deputy was on the current TV show Navy NCIS and what a cutie he is. I have always loved Judd Nelson and he can play the crazy guy with the best.

Even if you did not enjoy this movie, you must admit it is far better than most of the mindless drone that passes for a tv movie (i.e. the entire Lifetime channel rotation). Most all tv movies are atrocious but this was the type that was good in a bad way. Judd Nelson was absolutely perfect as Stanley, nailing even the campiest of dialogue. You could compare his believability to that of William Petersen's in 'Beast'. You can only judge an actor by how well they play in a terrible movie. The rest of the cast I really could do without, but they only serve to make him look better. Also, the water scenes were painfully beautiful in a sick way...

I would have to disagree with the commentator who said Stanley's killing for research was implausible. Au contraire, If you write screenplays, like I do, you can understand that. No, we generally do not become serial killers but on the whole we can be very irrational about the lengths we go to to achieve our goals. We really are all crazy ;-)

And to the commentator Tom: The drowning of girls was not meant to be humorous. And please do not get offended because, let's face it, you are not a woman...