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House by the Lake

  • 2017
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 17m
IMDb RATING
3.7/10
546
YOUR RATING
House by the Lake (2017)
Trailer for House by the Lake
Play trailer1:59
1 Video
3 Photos
HorrorThriller

A struggling married couple try to reconnect at an idyllic lake house, but their relationship is tested when their young daughter begins to fixate on an imaginary friend that may or may not ... Read allA struggling married couple try to reconnect at an idyllic lake house, but their relationship is tested when their young daughter begins to fixate on an imaginary friend that may or may not be real.A struggling married couple try to reconnect at an idyllic lake house, but their relationship is tested when their young daughter begins to fixate on an imaginary friend that may or may not be real.

  • Director
    • Adam Gierasch
  • Writers
    • Josh Burnell
    • Mike De Trana
  • Stars
    • James Callis
    • Anne Dudek
    • Natasha Bassett
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    3.7/10
    546
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Adam Gierasch
    • Writers
      • Josh Burnell
      • Mike De Trana
    • Stars
      • James Callis
      • Anne Dudek
      • Natasha Bassett
    • 16User reviews
    • 8Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    House by the Lake
    Trailer 1:59
    House by the Lake

    Photos2

    View Poster
    View Poster

    Top cast9

    Edit
    James Callis
    James Callis
    • Scott
    Anne Dudek
    Anne Dudek
    • Karen
    Natasha Bassett
    Natasha Bassett
    • Gwen
    Amiah Miller
    Amiah Miller
    • Emma
    Michael Bowen
    Michael Bowen
    • Harry
    Guy Nardulli
    Guy Nardulli
    • Detective Galuzzo
    Mark Berry
    Mark Berry
    • Detective McKendry
    Lee Garlington
    Lee Garlington
    • Dr. Llywelyn
    Jon Fedele
    • Fish Man
    • Director
      • Adam Gierasch
    • Writers
      • Josh Burnell
      • Mike De Trana
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews16

    3.7546
    1
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    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    1kennedyshannon

    House by the Lake is up for foreclosure

    Amateur Film. The little girl seems like the only one who took acting lessens. Very long drawn out movie that has no Horror in it. Most of the Film shows the Mother rolling her eyes at the young and pretty nanny and the husband trying to some from somebody. The rest of the movie is about running around the house looking for the little girl. The end is supposed to be the cherry on top. Ends up being poop on the bottom of your shoe. Bad, bad, bad
    1sitara84

    Terrible,shoddy story telling

    Terrible story telling,strained acting,has to be one of the worst horror movies ever! No sense of story in the movie and the audience doesn't feel connected to any of the characters...nor is there is any logical conclusion to what the movie was all about! Such a waste of time
    4Platypuschow

    House by the Lake: Lackluster at best

    This horror thriller tells the story of a couple who move to a beautiful house beside a lake with their 10yr old autistic daughter.

    They hire a nanny to assist them with the struggles of having such a high maintenance child but when the kid starts taking stories of her imaginary friend The Fishman too seriously it becomes questioned whether there is more to the story.

    Sadly this is one of those films where nothing really takes place until literally the last 5 minutes and it leaves the film feeling somewhat incomplete.

    The concept isn't terrible, it just feels like it needed padding out more and in its current form simply isn't that entertaining.

    The Good:

    Finale

    The Bad:

    Feels incomplete

    Things I Learnt From This Movie:

    If your child is missing a logical place to check is the dryer
    3stacy_bep

    Slightly good idea, very bad development

    What is really horrifying about this movie is that it has been produced such as it is! What's up with Gwen? Is she flirting with Scott or just being naive? What is her agenda with the Morgans? Who/What is the fish man? Is it real (well water marks around the house are real..) or is it just the pedophile next door in disguise? And I could go on and on... There are so many loose ends, so many chances to make it a good horror/thriller movie wasted.

    I second the previous review, good acting for James Callis and good music score.
    3sjalkarjadottir

    Not impressed

    Its the rather (too) common structure ..

    • struggling couple .. with the wife being a kind of nagging, older type
    • hot and younger woman to complete the triangle
    • some creepy guy
    • creepy kid


    While there is some sort of a chemistry between the mother and father, the (supposed) chemistry to the teacher/babysitter feels forced and anything but realistic. The relationship to the child is non existent... as a matter of fact it is completely unrealistic how the child can function at all .. or how the adults around it can be so oblivious and irrational not to act accordingly.

    The setting of the house as a healing process seems to be silly as it obviously does not work at all, nor do the man and woman put any active effort into making it work.

    The father is irrational beyond the point of being extremely annoying, the mother ... despite not having any reasonable connection to the daughter .. seems to consider her to be of utmost importance.

    On the technical side, there is some "slight" shaky cam .. which i do not like at all .. as it does not add anything.

    The acting is cheesy and on the level of a south american telenovela (overdramatic and overacted) .. also, there seems to be very little actual story in the film. It felt more like one of the worse episodes of X-files featuring the "monster of the week" .. in times when the show seemed to have a very low budget.

    So why does it still have 3/10 for me? .. well, there are worse movies out there .. but this one certainly adds to the list of very boring and stereotypical ones.

    Not recommended at all.

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    Related interests

    Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
    Horror
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

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    • Trivia
      There are no digital or computer generated effects in the film.

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    FAQ15

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 10, 2017 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The Dark Lake
    • Filming locations
      • Big Bear Lake, California, USA(House)
    • Production company
      • Anvil Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $300,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 17m(77 min)
    • Color
      • Color

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