Das Grab am See (TV Movie 1988)

Das Grab am See: Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman. With Valerie Harper, Gerald McRaney, Barry Corbin, Tammy Lauren. A city-slicker family, tired of the urban grime and crime, moves to a quaint little lakeside village. All seems like paradise – until corpses start showing up in the water. Will the family be the new victims?

“The best scene of u0026quot;The People Across The Lakeu0026quot; is the genuinely creepy, nightly opening-scene featuring a house, a murder u0026amp; a lake. After that, itu0026#39;s pretty much downhill from there on as far as the horror is concerned. A family (mom, dad, sister u0026amp; younger brother) is fed up with the (mildly) dangerous environment of suburbia, and decides to go and live near the titular lake. From then on, the film features too much lame happy family-related doo-doo near the lake, with occasionally some corpses popping up here and there. The couple of scenes where they discover the bodies, are pretty convincing (in terms of creepiness), but they are in shrill contrast with the rest of the goings-on (featuring just every-day-life stuff of the family settling in). The truth to the matters (the mystery as to whou0026#39;s doing the killing) is learned too soon, leaving only the family unknowing and the viewer yawning during the unexciting finale (featuring a discovery in a basement and running around the house), like if this made-for-TV thing suddenly remembered it was supposed to be a horror film. Itu0026#39;s not really badly made; the content u0026amp; story is just not interesting enough. The only highlight in the cast is Barry Corbin, though his performance/character is just a bit too goofy to be taken serious. Blond cutie Tammy Lauren (the daughter) might be a recognisable face for avid horror junkies too, as she also starred in u0026quot;Wishmasteru0026quot; (1997), and made-for-TV outings like u0026quot;I Saw What You Didu0026quot; (1988) u0026amp; u0026quot;The Stepford Childrenu0026quot; (1987). She hasnu0026#39;t got much to do in this film, though. Skippable, but watchable, if anything.”