The Lost

I’ve been waiting a long time for The Lost to get a DVD release. I’m a huge fan of Jack Ketchum (if you didn’t glean that from my The Girl Next Door review) and The Lost is one of his great books. I remember reading about the film adaptation a couple of years ago on various websites. IMDB lists it as a 2005 release. It played a few festivals in 2006. I eagerly anticipated a theatrical release, but films like these are rarely released theatrically (I’m still waiting for Ed Lee’s Header). I was surprised to see it in the horror DVD section at a big, evil, corporate store. Obedient consumer that I am, I bought it. Thanks, Anchor Bay.

The Lost is directed by Chris Siverston (I Know Who Killed Me). It adheres closely to the plot of Ketchum’s excellent novel. It opens in a brutal fashion, introducing us to the complicated character of Ray Pye. Marc Senter plays this difficult character extremely well. You hate him, you laugh at him, you feel sorry for him, and then you hate him some more. Ray puts crushed beer cans in his boots to make him appear taller. His mom owns a motel where he works as a maintenance manager. He unclogs plugged toilets. Shitter’s full! He wears black eye-liner and draws a fake mole on his face. He is the emo posterboy, the My Chemical Romance devotee. He stares at himself in the mirror too much. He hits on every girl he comes in contact with. He treats his girlfriend like shit. He is a pathetic narcissist. Watch him snap.

I really enjoyed this film. At its heart, it’s a character drama. It focuses mostly on Ray Pye and his damaged psyche, but it also relates the stories of those affected by Ray’s decisions. It juggles a lot of characters, but they all find their place. Had I not read the book, I might have been confused a little cause I’m dumb like that. I really like the actors that portrayed the supporting cast. Michael “Buck” Bowen plays Detective Schilling with an obsessive’s intensity. Robin Sydney plays Ray’s unattainable attraction Katherine, a sort of femme fatale. She is alluring, mysterious, and sexy. Ray’s girlfriend Jennifer, an emotional wreck, is played admirably by Shay Astar.

Chris Silverston’s direction is interesting. Some scenes are shot in 8mm (Lucky McKee, director of May and The Woods, is credited for this) and interspliced with the regular footage. The drug scenes feature sped up footage and superimposed images to achieve a psychedelic effect. Some of the footage, especially the outdoor shots, looks raw and bleak like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or Last House on the Left. One sex scene (there are a few) reminds me of A Clockwork Orange (the one that follows a trip to the record shop). Good, creative stuff.

This movie is unrelentingly violent, especially during the climax. It is eXtremely unsettling (notice the capital x I used, it’s that extreme). I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and that’s saying a lot, considering I had read the book and knew what to expect. It’s not for the squeamish. The violence in the movie, while graphic, is not gratuitous. It feels like the violence in Irreversible or Funny Games. To put it pretentiously, it teaches us a lesson about the ills and dangers of our image-first society. The final scene is abrupt and perfect. The credits roll over Red Red Meat’s There’s A Star Above The Manger Tonight: “Turn down the lighthouse low, let the lost keep staying lost.”

*Disclaimer: This is not a perfect film. It’s a low-budget film made by a young director. It has flaws. I didn’t choose to dwell on those in my review.

**Watch for Jack Ketchum’s cameo at the beginning of the movie; he’s the bartender.