The Lake (I) (2022) User Reviews

Nope

[PedroPires90 · 4/10 · 9 October 2022]

A movie about a Godzilla-style monster in Thailand seemed like something for me. It turns out that a lot goes wrong in this movie. Let's go first to what goes well. The monster design. Good design and is very convincing in slower-moving scenes. The little girl's performance, the best of the cast, the least forced. The soundtrack is nothing out of this world, but it fits perfectly into the film's most tense scenes. Some scenes that are inspired by other films, namely the scene in the car which is clearly a copy of Jurassic Park.

What goes wrong? Mainly a terrible script. This is for sure the first draft of something written in a very short time. They watched Jurassic Park, Godzilla, and Lake Placid and copied almost everything. Dialogue is awful. It never feels natural, it's repetitive, it adds almost nothing, or when it adds a lot it's through exposition in scenes where NOBODY would discuss family problems.

Other things that go wrong? The director doesn't seem to know what to do and the editing is super erratic. The film varies from 30 to 30 seconds of scenery and with that, the rhythm of the action also varies. The excessive use of the shaky cam also does nothing good, as we often see nothing of what is happening on the screen. Is there still room for more critics? Well, there is definitely an excessive melodrama throughout with scenes dragging on endlessly.

In short, this had everything to go right, but almost everything went wrong. It's hard for me to speak well of a movie in which the creature emits a sound that shakes an entire movie theater but is only seen or heard by people when it's half a meter away from them (and they can hear the screams from people being attacked!). It would be hard for me to believe that in a situation like this, the population would behave that way, with many pretending to run and most walking calmly. Invest in good scripts, people, and make it make sense!

Waste of a REALLY amazing monster

[ricemuscle · 3/10 · 21 March 2023]

The big monster looks PHENOMENAL. The smaller monster or monsters look cool too but the CGI is hit or miss. They showed the huge monster right off the bat in the first 5 minutes of the movie which I think was a huge mistake. The director did an awful job. The dialogue was terrible the editing was awful the score was crap. The movie was all over the place. There was a ton of Jurassic Park references like looking through the window with people in the car and the goat. The monster was so amazing looking especially in the rain and dark. I couldn't believe how great it looked for how bad the film was. The director has no sense of how to format a movie like this. They should never have shown the monster right off the bat. Show the point of view of the people and then show that they're missing or there are bodies but don't show the monster right away. Tease it and make the audience wait and let that build up and let the desire build and then finally when you show that big behemoth it will knock everyone socks off. The movie was all over the place it was really confusing. It's a shame because with a sweet monster like that and a good director with a quality script, and that could have been a really good movie. I would love to see Hollywood redo it with the same quality of the big monster, but with a director and writer that can tell a great story and actors that can do a much better job. I mean it was worth seeing just for the effects alone but everything else was absolutely horrendous.

Disappointing on many levels

[AJBraxton · 4/10 · 1 September 2022]

If you are looking for a good movie to show the quality of Thai Cinema and this is not it. It's such a mess I don't know where to begin. I can't blame the English subtitles - although they are a bit strange with English culturalisms.. like the police officer acknowledging a radio call by saying "roger that." So there is this monster that apparently lives in the lake and kills scores of people. Fairly decent EFX...but the story is well, full of holes and hard to follow. And the ending.. what the? There is a side story with two university researchers...who disappear after appearing.. and then come back in the end with the answer of what the monster is looking for. And somehow they are allowed into the hospital to view records and interview patients as well as access to the police chief... because they say they want to help? Every, and I mean every, confrontation scene with the monster is overlong.

The CGI effects keeps the movie afloat...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 20 March 2023]

Someone mentioned to me that the 2022 Thai horror sci-fi movie "The Lake" was a good monster movie, so of course I tracked it down and opted to give it a watch. I had actually never heard about the movie prior to having it recommended, so all I knew about "The Lake" was that it was a monster movie of sorts.

Writer Lee Thongkham, however, only managed to deliver a somewhat mediocre script and plot for the movie. Sure, "The Lake" was watchable, but it was not an outstanding gargantuan monster movie. The narrative was somewhat slow paced, and the contents of the storyline was rather simplistic, almost to the point of being non-existing. So you're not exactly in for anything grand here.

The character gallery in "The Lake" was bland, so very, very bland. I can't honestly say that any of the characters throughout the 104 minutes that the movie ran for left a lasting impression on me. They were all essentially one and the same character; totally devoid of backstory, motivation and drive.

Sure, "The Lake" was watchable and good enough entertainment for a single viewing. However, it was because of the good CGI and special effects in the movie. The CGI and special effects department that worked on "The Lake" surely managed to keep the movie afloat, despite of the somewhat lacking script. In fact, I will actually go as far as to say that the CGI effects in "The Lake" is definitely some of the best effects I have ever seen in a Thai movie.

"The Lake" is the type of gargantuan monster movie that can easily sneak unnoticed under the radar, though I do believe that you should watch it, if you enjoy monster movies of this magnitude.

My rating of directors Lee Thongkham and Aqing Xu's 2022 movie "The Lake" lands on a four out of ten stars, given the hollow storyline and zombie-like character gallery. The visual effects could only carry the movie so far.

Eggs and a whole lot of unusual!

[codybyrns · 3/10 · 15 March 2023]

So the film special effects are not that bad as we start on a good note. There are a lot of different textures to the creatures which is a little hard to keep up with. Are we looking at something big? Something human size? Sometimes it is just hard to tell what you are going to see next.

A lot of the scenes, you'll notice, are straight from two Jurassic Park movies. The larger Mommy-like creature appears to be very photogenic in one of the scenes because it is 15 minutes of it just staring into the window of a much smaller truck (similar to Jurassic Park 1 where the kids are in the jeeps and have to stay still).

I have a huge issue with the overall storyline. The eggs pop up randomly in the movie. You never really can tell if you are seeing multiple eggs throughout the film or just one. The characters' dialogue and background are very clumsy at best. It was hard to watch some scenes because the director kind of threw in emotional conversations at really odd times. Like times in which you probably shouldn't be discussing personal issues. There are large human-like creatures killing dozens of people in this village and you want to talk to your daughter about why she is acting out in school?

The kid disappears near the beginning of the film then shows back up randomly (with a sudden understanding of what the creature is and how to act around it I might add) later on in the film. There are two scientists that are in the film maybe four times. They have access to hospital records, the commander of the police force is their best bud, and they offer to help "in any way they can". The two seem to be doing some sort of research on the lake but also seem like super spies.

Overall, it wasn't the worse film. The creature looked pretty neat which is more to say than many creature feature films.

The storyline, dialogue, ambiance, camerawork, and music, all need some work.

Should've stayed in the depths.

[kevinxirau · 3/10 · 22 March 2023]

Ever had minimal expectations for a movie and still come out disappointed? That's what I got for "The Lake", a giant monster movie from Thailand. I remember seeing the trailer months ago and thought it looked nice. Too bad the nice shine is from a shallow pool. The plot is simple: an egg is found along with a human-sized amphibian creature that goes on a killing spree before being captured. Big momma shows up to find both, throwing the townsfolk into chaos.

The most positive thing about this film is the effects. There's a great blend of CGI and practical effects with the big creature in particular primarily displayed via a massive animatronic reminiscent of the T-rex from "Jurassic Park", all of which looks impressive. The design isn't bad either, slightly humanoid but mostly having fish-like traits. Can't say the same for the rest of the film. There's a smidge of potential with the human characters, who have strained relationships with their families, which contrasts the creature trying to save its offspring. Too bad none of the characters are worth a crap since we barely know anything about them or have time to let them breathe. The constant screaming from the crowds gets so annoying it makes Ann Darrow from "King Kong" seem soft spoken by comparison. Aside from the initial attack scene, there's hardly any action and the beasts do very little; the big monster doesn't even smash any buildings or fight the authorities. Most crippling of all is the horrendous pacing. The movie's 90 minutes long yet it feels twice that much with multiple scenes going on far too long and being uneventful. It bored me out of my mind. There's an English dub, but it's pretty sloppily executed compared to other East Asian films I've seen. Also, the story doesn't really take place on a lake, much less make it a major focus, so add misleading title to the list of sins.

"The Lake" is yet another example of how good effects can never top good writing and direction. Give this a hard pass. If you want a better version of a story where a giant rampaging monster seeks to save its young, watch the 1961 British flick "Gorgo".

The egg was first

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 19 June 2023]

No pun intended - obviously I am making a joke here. Also no chicken (was hurt) either - but you knew about that. If you are into creature features, you will have quite the swell time. Really well done - the (special) effects we see here. I imagine this didn't have the biggest budget, yet it really delivers on that front (and back - another pun?).

One thing is for sure, you should never take away something that does not belong to you - I think that is a lesson everyone can learn from this movie. Suspend your disbelief and experience this with the characters - and a monster you may be able to sympathize with ... until it gets you between his teeth ... only slightly kidding with this ...

Concept good, execution bad.

[okpilak · 3/10 · 11 December 2023]

They have a very interesting monster. The smaller one was probably a man in a rubber suit, but the larger one was CGI (or camera tricks) but done well. It was quick, agile and menacing. The movie is dubbed, and that is done badly. The movie would have been better served keeping the native language and using subtitles. The voices didn't seem to fit the actors, and the level was as if a teenager was talking. The moral is don't take the egg. The movie seemed very unpolished and amateurish. Crowd scenes didn't seem to be done very well, and the initial chase through the brush was very chaotic. There had to be some talent behind getting the movie done, but it didn't come across. I wanted to like the movie, having seen a sneak preview that got my interest but the movie didn't live up to the teaser trailer.

Dreadful; but better in Thai

[james-69388 · 3/10 · 20 March 2023]

First of all, I'll preface this: watch this movie with subtitles! The dubbing is absolutely horrible and the dubbed lines are played *over* the sound effects, drowning them out and making the whole thing take on the notes of an early 2000's comedy. Dialogue is still a bit stunted in original Thai but at least it's tolerable.

With that out of the way, this movie is sadly a wreck. A lot of the other reviews here have already mentioned the fact that the editing is wild and unfocused. It is, but they've said that enough I won't go into detail on that again.

Instead what I'm going to say is that this movie is inane and pointless. It has absolutely no focus. Worse, it clearly had a half thought idea of a moral, ripped entirely from better movies, that it manages to get wrong. Long story short, it tries to play the monsters in the standard Gorgo style "leave them in peace, not so different from us" moral while wholly ignoring that the monsters were killing people left and right without provocation.

There's no generic B-movie excuses even; no moral of humans encroaching too far into nature, no ancient cave opened by weapon testing, no impact of ecosystem pollution. They just show up due to the rain and start killing. You *cannot* try for the sympathy angle with river monsters (yes, river, there is no lake in The Lake) that hunt and eat people or kill just for fun. You haven't *earned* it and all you had to do was copy the SparkNotes from any other movie to get this right.

The sad thing is that this one moral would be the only way to stitch together the incredibly loose threads vaguely about family and staying together. Not that literally any of those were done well either but at least then you could make a token attempt with parallels - instead you're left with a half dozen undercooked ideas, none of them pan out, none are exciting and frankly no part of this was worth watching if you're even slightly sober.

And it's a bloody shame because all of the pieces were right there in front of them! Like people have said, there's a scene ripped nearly wholesale from Jurassic Park and the only difference is that the humans are oblivious and the editing is terrible so it has absolutely no tension. It's like if you cheated on a test by copying someone's answers then still failed because you wrote it wrong - just embarrassing.

And I didn't even mention the dumb parts, like the inexplicable psychic link, the cops lying to protect the monsters, the complete and total lack of stage direction. But in short it's bad. Everything good was in the trailer and you can have more fun watching that on repeat. If not for the monster design and the alright Thai acting I'd go even lower on the rating but those are great so I'll leave it at three.

Low class director

[review-89310 · 3/10 · 8 October 2022]

So Sad... Why you this Director wanna publish such a movie if you are not ready.

Director showing a short cut movie to customer, wasting times with many pointless scenes.

Audio low class, Video low class, Visual low class.

Sound Effect editor low class.

Too many closed video capturing.

Director presenting too many no point scenes, Wrong camera angles, trying to cover up the skills of a director.

Story telling not bringing wondering aspect .

This movie can be better, if director and team really want to go far beyond.

Should not publish this movie 1st.

Wasted of Low budget on D-rated score.

My point of view only.

Sorry Director.

A new and exciting monster movie throwback from Thailand

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 9/10 · 26 May 2023]

Living in a remote Thai village, the discovery of a giant egg in the nearby lake signals the start of a monstrous creature running through the community looking to recapture the egg, but when an even bigger monster appears in the community must unravel the truth about its existence to stop it.

Overall, there's quite a lot to like about this one. Among the stronger elements is a generally fun setup that mixes together several impressive elements into a strong old-school monster-on-the-loose fable set in the modern day. The initial idea of the creature appearing in the village and setting out on a path of revenge after a villager innocently takes its egg away is fine enough as it gets us to the expected monster carnage with a modicum of foresight required to believe it since real creatures would be that protective over their young. This realism-minded setup is matched by the secondary human storyline involving the scientists arriving and trying to study the burgeoning conditions around the lake before the creature shows up as their mission was to figure out why the area was so unusual beforehand it all makes sense as to why the creature is there attacking everyone. The ensuing intervention from the local police and other armed forces is at first seen as a logical means of protecting the citizens That manages to set the stage for the film to feature a slew of impressive creature action. Making good use of the creature's size advantage over normal citizens, the initial sequences including the opening attack on the villagers at the lake or the later chase of the brother and sister through the local rice paddies offer a lot to like by ending up featuring high-energy action as it's lightning-fast agility and physical weaponry are put to use in large-scale ambushes to wipe out and attack others. The confrontation with the police where they manage to capture it in the city streets is equally fun with a decidedly fun twist coming into play keeping them from killing it while a later sequence involving the massive mother arriving and stalking a couple inside a stranded car as it looks for it's missing egg being transported inside is a truly chilling and suspenseful action scene. This becomes the starting point for this one to turn into a solid kaiju-style offering in the final half. While the audience has been aware all along of the existence of the massive mother, the characters' blissful ignorance when dealing with the escaped human-sized creature is understandable due to their encounters thus far. Since the smaller creature was the one out and about rampaging in the community and the mother's off-screen presence after leaving no witnesses, the discovery of the mother's existence all along turns into a rather fun city attack sequence. Filled with rushing crowds, multiple encounters with citizens fleeing the area, a rather ingenious plan to stop it that plays off what's been established in the film's lore and a series of great effects work to showcase the monster interacting with humanity, there's quite a lot to like with this one. There are a few issues with this one that hold it down. One of the main drawbacks is a curious decision to remove several potentially intriguing sequences with the creature attacking major parts of the city and reserving them as flashbacks. Rather than get to see the creature rampaging at a playground or a construction site, they're instead portrayed as the inspector arrives at the aftermath with inserts used to depict what initially happened. Since they're back-to-back sequences in the film placed only minutes apart from each other, the decision to feature them in this manner is confusing more than anything. The other issue here is the confusing epitaph that finishes this one with some bizarre action and a highly unnecessary coda about the true monstrous persona in humanity that has no real build-up and feels quite bizarre to be added onto this story when it had a more logical endpoint much earlier. These factors all manage to give it a few flaws to hold it back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

Godzilla's watery brother from a Thai mother!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 3 November 2022]

With a humongous and deliciously gooey-looking monster on a film poster, you can seduce pretty much every fan of old-fashioned horror! Purely based on the poster image, I fell for "The Lake" like President Clinton would fall for a plump intern secretary, and I did whatever it took to be present at the Belgian Festival premiere, even though I had just injured my leg. Isn't that dedication?

Of course, being a horror fanatic since several decades already, I'm also very much aware that posters can be very misleading, and that even the most promising looking monster-movies can turn out to become massive disappointments. "The Lake" certainly isn't a massive disappoint, but I can relate to where the negative and harsh reviews thus far are coming from.

Let's start with the good! The monster(s) look awesome! They can be best described as crossbreeds between Godzilla, the T-Rex from the original "Jurassic Park", the man-thing from "Creature from Black Lagoon" and the ugly beast from the low-budget flick "Zaat" (which probably nobody else has seen). And the monsters receive plenty of screentime, so you can admire them in all their glorious cheesiness! That's another big advantage of "The Lake", by the way, nobody in their right state of mind can claim this film is boring. The monster-action kickstarts right at the beginning and remains at a high and fast-paced level throughout the film. Purely speaking in terms of B-movie entertainment, "The Lake" undeniably delivers.

Unfortunately, there's always a negative flipside as well, and the biggest deficiencies of "The Lake" are to be found in the scenario department as well as in the lack of experience/overview of the young & over-excited director Lee Thonkham. A creature-feature like this doesn't really require an in-depth or intelligent screenplay, but Thonkham nevertheless manages to ruin the basic standards. For some reason, he adds a sort of spiritual connection between the monsters and two of the lead characters, which doesn't bring any value whatsoever. Important characters keep disappearing and re-appearing, and the last 15-20 minutes of the film are a complete mess, and this easily could have been avoided. Secondly, and I blame Thonkham's young age and lack of experience for this, the editing is incredibly hectic and incoherent. At some points, "The Lake" is a non-stop spitfire of short shots (approximately 30 sec), clumsy handheld-camera footage, and completely unnatural camera angles. Perhaps a slightly too ambitious project for a beginning director, but I definitely want to see how he evolves.

PS: two things I learned about Thailand by watching this movie: there is a lot of seriously heavy rainfall, and everybody drives a pick-up truck. Insightful!

The Lake" (2022): A Disappointing Dive into Chaos

[Aamanusorn · 1/10 · 14 June 2023]

"The Lake" (2022) is a Thai monster film that presents a premise of a gigantic and bloodthirsty creature wreaking havoc on a town after its egg is stolen. Unfortunately, despite the anticipation I had while watching it, the film left me deeply disappointed. With a reported budget of 80 million baht, "The Lake" falls short and can only be described as a cinematic misstep.

One of the film's major flaws lies in its screenwriting. The narrative lacks coherence and fails to make sense, leaving the audience puzzled throughout. As a fellow filmmaker, I couldn't help but question the choices made by the director. It's disheartening to witness such a film being released without apparent concern for quality or audience satisfaction. The most infuriating aspect is undoubtedly the ending, which leaves viewers feeling betrayed and questioning the purpose behind its lackluster resolution.

Furthermore, the addition of a voiceover narration only adds to the film's shortcomings. Rather than enhancing the storytelling, it comes across as an attempt to impose unnecessary moral lessons or exposition upon the audience, resulting in a disconnected and disjointed viewing experience.

While I urge you to watch "The Lake" to form your own opinion, I can't help but express my disappointment and warn against setting high expectations. This film serves as a prime example of missed opportunities and failed execution. As a filmmaker myself, I find it disheartening to witness a project with such potential fall so short of delivering an engaging and satisfying experience.

"The Lake" is a film that fails to captivate or leave a positive lasting impression. With its weak screenwriting, perplexing storyline, and a disappointing ending, it's difficult to recommend this movie to others. As an audience member, I felt let down and even betrayed by the lack of consideration for the viewers. Let us hope that future films will learn from the shortcomings of "The Lake" and strive to deliver a more cohesive and fulfilling cinematic experience.

Waste of Time

[jskilesdc-58503 · 1/10 · 7 December 2023]

This movie is terrible. I wouldn't even rate it a B rated film. At the highest I would say a D- film. The acting is horrendous. Cinematography is pathetic. Maybe I am just accustomed to American movies, I don't know, but this entire movie and everything about it is pathetic. A waste of your time for sure. If you are looking for a thriller movie, don't pick this one. It's a Thailand film. Reminds me of a 1950s or 1960s Godzilla movie bot actually no where near thatthat good or exciting. The actresses seen as if they were just pulled off the street and cast in the movie. Stiff and sounds like they are just reading their lines with no emotion.

The Monster is it's Only Saving Grace

[hellsing218 · 4/10 · 7 July 2023]

I was pretty hyped up for the film after I saw the trailer, unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot to back up my optimism. A lot of the dialogue is clunky and doesn't make sense, and it's pretty obvious whoever translated this put it through a machine without paying attention to the results. Some of the name changes were also very questionable like giving the characters American sounding names which honestly took me out of it. The plot is rushed but the movie itself is filled with plenty of filler scenes where the monster is just standing there. To its credit, that monster looks awesome and were well above many low-budget American monster movies so well done in that regard. Other than that, there's nothing to really keep holding your interest.

A Roaring Disappointment

[birdboy5555 · 4/10 · 12 December 2023]

This should have been amazing. Great practical effects, great computer generated effects and a trailer that teased a movie full of monster action and mayhem.

What did we actually get? A slow, boring film with a nonsensical plot, shakey cam for monster attack scenes, and a monster encounter so sluggish I feared the animatronic broke. The main character becoming connected to the younger monster makes no sense!!! Just, so disappointing . . (And the English translation for the subtitles is terrible. Google translate quality) If you want to have a good memory of this movie, just watch the trailer.

3.7 as of this writing?! Geez..its not THAT bad!

[jorgito2001 · 6/10 · 16 January 2024]

Fortunately, I was able to watch this with original Thai Language (it defaulted to English dub on Prime Video and 30 seconds of THAT and I knew I HAD to switch). Sure, the story is pretty generic, with small slices of Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and The Host (2006) and the character development is almost non-existent. But the monster has a cool design and the CGI and practical fx are pretty impressive for what, I'm assuming, is a smaller budgeted giant monster film. The acting is above average and the film is well-photographed, save for some quick cuts in the shrubs early in the movie. Overall, its not as bad as most "The Asylum" creature features you'll catch on SyFy & nowhere near as bad as its current IMDB rating makes it out to be. I enjoyed it, but urge folks to seek out the film in original Thai language, as I imagine the crappy English dub gives it an unintended "campy" tone.

6 stars for the Monster!

[aciarleglio-1 · 6/10 · 1 April 2023]

5 stars for the monster. Another added because the acting wasn't bad. 0 Stars for the story. The story made absolutely 0 sense. Not sure if in Korea it makes more sense and I just didn't get it being an American. I keep thinking about the movie and I don't understand how they couldn't make a monster movie that made the most basic sense. I think they may have been implying the monsters destroying everything were actually humans transformed or evolved or devolved or something; now trying to live among humans. That's my guess, but I really am not sure about any part of the plot's meaning. There was a lot of symbolism and foreshadowing pointing to many possibilities, but they forgot to ever explain the meaning to the viewers. What a waste of an awesome monster. I really think I could sit here for a few hours and take the ideas they presented and write a story that would satisfy viewers. The lake plot was as if someone wrote down a bunch of emotions and story ideas then mixed them up in a hat, drew them and filmed the scenes to match, but never connected any of them together. Very frustrating.

Not as bad as some say!

[kennethkwr4 · 6/10 · 14 March 2023]

I didn't have any "Great Expectations" about this monster/ horror movie. It was as entertaining as most low budget films. The creature got plenty of screen time and the body count was high. The two kids, in the car ,while the monster examined them and the egg was right out of Jurassic Park. People running, screaming and falling down as they ran is classic. There was some parts as well as some people who brought no value to the film. The CGI was actually pretty good! Some of it will be just like "where's Waldo"! People kept disappearing and reappearing. What's up with that. All in all, I've seen plenty worse movies. I give it a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. Enjoy!