ill LYTeracy - Get Ready For WICKED LAKE: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT

To the extent that the public at large are aware of me at all, it’s generally because they’ve seen my byline in a movie review somewhere. It often comes as a surprise, even to people who know me, that in fact I am also an actor, and am hoping to prioritize that side of my career as soon as possible. What have you seen me in, you may ask, and I respond that you have probably not seen anything I’ve been in...but if you have, the most likely candidate is WICKED LAKE, the one movie of mine that can regularly be found at Best Buy.

WICKED LAKE -- which tells the tale of four super-hot lesbians with supernatural powers, and the deranged misogynists who pursue them -- was easily the most fun movie of my acting career to make, as many old friends from college and immediate post-college life were involved. Not to mention I got a motel room and flight paid for, and an actual paycheck. (It wasn’t technically the only time I’ve been paid to act – I once made $50 by standing around looking scary in a Chinese movie of some sort, and I also scored a few bucks being an extra in ORGY OF BLOOD. But this was the first and only pay-for-substantial-role flick I’ve done to date.)

WICKED LAKE saw a limited national theatrical release, and got reviewed in major publications. Unfortunately for us, the enjoyment we had in making it was not generally shared by audiences (3/10 on imdb, last I checked). The sole notice I got was from the Village Voice’s Aaron Hillis, who wrote, likely with tongue in cheek, “Luke Y. Thompson makes us proud as “Half-Idiot,” a publicly masturbating redneck who pisses himself.” (He also called me a “former” Voice contributor, when in fact I was still contributing.)

On the other hand, we sold a shit-ton of copies to the U.S. military, where I can imagine soldiers psyching themselves up for battle with the Al Jourgensen soundtrack and the four-way nude make-out scene (which some critics actually complained went on TOO LONG. Seriously). I had some inkling from the getgo that a double-dip was likely to happen on the DVD...but I’m not sure any of us expected that it would be a totally new cut of the film.

It’s not as though director Zach Passero didn’t have control over the first cut, just that he was on a timetable, and since then has had new ideas about what to do with the material. As such, the producers allowed him to come back with a whole different version, though it does utilize the original elements...it’s not like he got to add in some CGI Dewbacks or something. Though as I write this, I can envision Zach nodding his head three times and saying, “Whoa, we TOTALLY needed a few CGI Dewbacks!”

 

I never really “review” movies that I have significant roles in – it’s too hard to distance myself. So let’s not call this a review, exactly; but I did watch the director’s cut last night in an all-but finished form (the dialogue was slightly off-sync or unmixed in a couple scenes). And boy, do I wish this was the one we could have shown the public first.

I’m not blind to the flaws of the original film. I love it, and will always love it, but I get why others don’t. Tonally it was an odd mix of director and script: the screenplay was balls-out brutality written as a giant F.U. to critics who were whining about movies like HOSTEL, while Zach, for as long as I’ve known him (i.e. since film school) has made meditative dreamscapes, usually featuring some kind of animation at some stage. I used to kid him about how he was going to find a way to get animation into WICKED LAKE. Lo and behold, in the director’s cut, he has. I won’t spoil how, but it absolutely works.

Most substantially, the director’s cut, which is entitled WICKED, WICKED LAKE, features a complete visual and aural overhaul. The shots have been processed a lot more: Eve Mauro’s green Dickies dress, for example, is now gray, and the purple hot rod a lighter blue. And the score is almost entirely new. “Radar Love” and “Get it On” by Ministry remain, as does Al Jourgensen’s faux-eastern score for the make-out scene, but haunting new music by Zach is the undertone for many other scenes now, adding a layer of foreboding that was missing before.

The visual processing also includes several dissolved and mixed images – flames halfway appear over the make-out sequence, and the moon makes many appearances in odd places, as does a metaphorical unicorn (the one and only thing this director’s cut has in common with BLADE RUNNER?). Time-lapse shots set the stage for uncomfortable moments, while the woods sometime glow red at night in places. Awkward longer scenes have been broken up – the scene in which Caleb’s deranged family initially assaults the ladies now features some very subjective stuff, as the girls try to take their minds to happier places in the midst of the assault. The effect is often psychedelic, and total ‘70s grindhouse.

Characters are given more establishment, and the story itself is clearer, although one thing that isn’t clarified much is what the women’s powers actually are, how they come by them, or why they don’t fight back immediately. The original cut specified the stroke of midnight; this version implies the full moon is responsible. But why do they simply eat some victims, yet do an elaborate sacrificial ritual with another? This was never entirely certain, and still isn’t. I’m not sure Zach necessarily wants you to know, but I know that viewers didn’t tend to like that aspect. At the same time, the newly surreal atmosphere that everything has makes you wonder if logic matters or if, like the production company, it’s all “Fever Dreams.”

I think one of the reasons the movie isn’t more popular is that it doesn’t really give you a protagonist to identify with. The main hook of the original screenplay was that it flipped your sympathies and expectations, and this works fine in a 5-minute Aeon Flux cartoon, but is an uphill struggle in a feature. We’re initially inclined to try identify with awkward Caleb (Marc Senter) and his lovely crush-object Ilene (Robin Sydney), but in short order, both of them are taken out of the story. We never really identify with the women as much as we should, probably because the others aren’t as well developed as Ilene. The young rookie cop Ray (Michael Esparza) is the closest thing to an audience identification character, but he doesn’t show up in this edit until the halfway mark.

With that said, the newer cut does get more inside Caleb’s head, and clarifies the plotline with the two cops, making it more evident early on that they’re on the trail of the women. And on the humor front, aged perv Sir Jim (Frank Birney) has had a lot of his more foul lines restored. Now, I know some have wondered to what extent the movie is supposed to be funny, and I’m not trying to pull a Tommy Wiseau here, but believe me, on-set we certainly knew and meant for a lot of it to be humorous. I take issue with reviews that slam the acting, not just on my own behalf, but on everyone’s...all the actors put in time and energy, and I could imagine any of the supporting characters being a lead in some other movie out there.

I can’t say that this is a totally different movie, or that it absolutely lacks the issues people had with the original, but it is a lot more stylish, and the product of a much surer directorial vision. If you couldn’t find anything to like the first time, it may not change your mind, but I would urge anyone on the fence to give the new cut a shot.

Because who knows? If enough of you buy it, I might get residuals one day. And a sequel would kick ass, because Half-Idiot ain’t dead yet.

WICKED, WICKED LAKE: DIRECTOR’S CUT is due out on Blu-Ray in Summer 2010

 

Luke Y. Thompson is an actor, writer, and film critic living in Hollywood.