"Lake Dead" is about three sisters who inherit an isolated motel on the edge of a lake after an unknown grandfather of theirs dies. Warned by their estranged father not to go to the place, they ignore him and decide to make a weekend out of going up to see the place, bringing along some friends - albeit one of the sisters, who heads up to the motel earlier than the rest and vanishes. But their laid-back weekend turns into a horrific tragedy when they are attacked by two deformed psychos in jumpsuits... and they seem to have a link to the motel and a strange old woman that runs the place.<br /><br />I'd heard bad things about this movie, but decided to rent it and give it a try. Honestly, this is one of the worst horror movies I've seen in quite a while. Nearly every aspect of it was extremely cheap, amateurish, and just completely flat. At first it appears to be a throw-back to cheap '80s slasher movies, but after you watch a good twenty minutes of it it's apparent that it is nothing more than a failed attempt that pulls tricks and scenarios from every other slasher movie of its type. The script itself appears to contain hints of originality in the beginning, but as it progresses it hits cliché after cliché after cliché. It blends elements of "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Wrong Turn" with its villains, trying to create deformed hillbillies that turn out looking like the cavemen from the Geico insurance commercials, clad in Michael Myers-esquire coveralls. <br /><br />It pulls scenarios from these films as well (the whole motor home attack is suspiciously similar to "The Hills Have Eyes", and the sheriff character reminiscent of the "Texas Chainsaw" remake), but does a bad job at imitating them. But beyond the extremely derivative nature in the script, there's the acting. The performances here are utterly absurd. The actors all look like and act like soap-opera stars, and their delivery, expression, and overall demeanors are terrible. Each character is stereotypical from the get-go, and there is absolutely no personality in any of them. The writers themselves are at fault here as well for forming such flimsy characters and writing such ridiculous lines for each of them. Even had this film had a decent script, the inept, wooden acting and dialogue would have detracted from any good that would have been in it. I spent a sufficient time cringing at the delivery of the lines.<br /><br />The cinematography has few redeeming qualities as well, and the gory special effects are amateurish like everything else here. Some of the death scenes are creative, I'll give it that, but they're also quite absurd, unrealistic, and often there just for violence's sake (the whole pipe-through-the-ankles, chain-pulled-through-it bit was over-the-top to say the least). There's also some completely random, unnecessary sex scenes that border on soft-core pornography, and are so out of place and poorly portrayed that it's laughable. There is also an unnecessary rape scene in the film (which seems to go hand-in-hand with hillbilly killers nowadays) that is so poorly constructed that it's not even close to being disturbing, which is actually kind of scary in itself. The script eventually tries to tie up the characters with this family subplot including the old motel keeper and the deformed hillbillies, which is the crux of everything, but this doesn't mesh well or make any sense whatsoever.<br /><br />Overall, there is really nothing I can recommend from "Lake Dead". Its script is so derivative and uninspired that it was doomed from the beginning. Throw in some cheap gore scenes, some random sex, and some of the worst soap-opera acting you'll find, and you've got this. I'm often a fan of cheesy B- grade horror movies, and I really, really wanted to enjoy this flick. I had a little bit of hope for it, but it was impossible. There was nothing close to scary or worth seeing here whatsoever. I know that some of Horrorfest's movies aren't of the highest quality, but I'm really quite surprised that they even picked this up for their 2007 selection. It was really that bad. 2/10.