Cabin by the Lake
Encyclopedia
Cabin by the Lake is a black comedy
/horror
TV movie released in 2000. It tells the story of Stanley, played by Judd Nelson
, a script writer who begins killing girls for research for a movie he is writing, where the villain does the same thing.
) is renting a cabin to write a script for a new movie where a killer drowns young ladies and keeps them underwater as a macabre garden. Incidentally, that is exactly what Stanley is doing, which he calls "doing the research".
The film opens with Stanley on his boat in the middle of Summit Lake and making his way back to the dock. After speaking with his agent, Regan (Susan Gibney
) over the phone, he accesses a hidden room in his house where a young lady is chained to the floor by her ankle. He brings her a change of clothes and instructs her to dress, before gagging the woman with an orange and binding her hands behind her back. He then forcibly escorts her onto his boat, which stops in the middle of Summit Lake. Stanley then ties a cement block around her ankles. Curious as to how his captive feels in her predicament, he asks, "Knowing that you're going to die, how do you feel?" Upon hearing this question, the woman becomes paralyzed with fear and says nothing. Stanley then pushes her off his boat, but promptly grabs her by the hair and pulls her back up to study her expression before letting her sink once and for all. Later, Stanley returns home to resume working on his script using the details he had gleaned from his victim, before diving to the bottom of Summit Lake to tend his "garden", which consists of several women kidnapped and drowned in a similar fashion.
Seeking yet another victim, Stanley discovers Mallory (Hedy Buress), a young woman working at a movie theater. Intrigued by her self-confessed fear of water, Stanley follows Mallory after she leaves work and abruptly swerves in front of her, slamming the brakes on his van and forcing their vehicles to collide. After checking on Mallory, Stanley turns his attention to his dogs, which are heard barking from the van. Mallory follows him to the back of the van, but before she can react, Stanley throws the doors wide and pushes her into the van, which is completely empty save for the recording of barking dogs, and an ominous message written in yellow tape that reads, "I'm the person your mother warned you about."
Stanley locks his new victim away in his secret room, but Mallory is defiant and shows him no fear. Eventually, he lies to Mallory and tells her that he'll let her go free, but that she would have to face her fear and go for a ride on his boat. He then blindfolds her and drives around for a while to disorient her before they board the boat. Eventually, Stanley attempts to drown her, but fortunately she is rescued shortly thereafter, by local police officer Boone and a couple who own a movie special-effects shop nearby. After taking time to recuperate, Mallory then gives the idea to make a plaster-mold of herself, with a camera as an eye, to catch the killer when he returns to his garden. When Stanley returns to the bodies, he discovers the ploy and quickly escapes, his identity hidden by his scuba mask.
Mallory, assuming herself safe, stays at a hotel room for the night, but is soon discovered and recaptured by Stanley who immediately prepares to drown her again. However, complications arise when Stanley's agent Regan and the director to the film he is writing arrive at the cabin unexpectedly. He kills the director with a cleaver, then imprisons Regan with Mallory. He then takes them both to the lake to drown them, but Boone and the other police dive in and quickly release Mallory. Although Regan's body is recovered, Stanley is presumed dead, having snagged his leg on a rope in his own garden. Mallory tries to recover from the experience, though she continues to be haunted by visions of her former captor.
The last scene has a person pitching a movie to a new agent, in which a killer buries his victims alive. The agent asks them how the person feels as they're buried alive. The camera reveals the person to be Stanley with a new look, as he says "I'm still doing the research."
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
/horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
TV movie released in 2000. It tells the story of Stanley, played by Judd Nelson
Judd Nelson
Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor. He is best known for being a member of the "Brat Pack" in the mid-1980s; and for his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbary in St...
, a script writer who begins killing girls for research for a movie he is writing, where the villain does the same thing.
Plot
The movie takes place in Summit Lake, where Stanley (Judd NelsonJudd Nelson
Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor. He is best known for being a member of the "Brat Pack" in the mid-1980s; and for his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbary in St...
) is renting a cabin to write a script for a new movie where a killer drowns young ladies and keeps them underwater as a macabre garden. Incidentally, that is exactly what Stanley is doing, which he calls "doing the research".
The film opens with Stanley on his boat in the middle of Summit Lake and making his way back to the dock. After speaking with his agent, Regan (Susan Gibney
Susan Gibney
Susan Gibney is an American actress. She has 5 older, and two younger, siblings. She moved to Webster, New York at a young age, returned to California to live several times, and again has lived in Webster since 2004. Susan graduated from Buffalo State College in New York with a major in theater...
) over the phone, he accesses a hidden room in his house where a young lady is chained to the floor by her ankle. He brings her a change of clothes and instructs her to dress, before gagging the woman with an orange and binding her hands behind her back. He then forcibly escorts her onto his boat, which stops in the middle of Summit Lake. Stanley then ties a cement block around her ankles. Curious as to how his captive feels in her predicament, he asks, "Knowing that you're going to die, how do you feel?" Upon hearing this question, the woman becomes paralyzed with fear and says nothing. Stanley then pushes her off his boat, but promptly grabs her by the hair and pulls her back up to study her expression before letting her sink once and for all. Later, Stanley returns home to resume working on his script using the details he had gleaned from his victim, before diving to the bottom of Summit Lake to tend his "garden", which consists of several women kidnapped and drowned in a similar fashion.
Seeking yet another victim, Stanley discovers Mallory (Hedy Buress), a young woman working at a movie theater. Intrigued by her self-confessed fear of water, Stanley follows Mallory after she leaves work and abruptly swerves in front of her, slamming the brakes on his van and forcing their vehicles to collide. After checking on Mallory, Stanley turns his attention to his dogs, which are heard barking from the van. Mallory follows him to the back of the van, but before she can react, Stanley throws the doors wide and pushes her into the van, which is completely empty save for the recording of barking dogs, and an ominous message written in yellow tape that reads, "I'm the person your mother warned you about."
Stanley locks his new victim away in his secret room, but Mallory is defiant and shows him no fear. Eventually, he lies to Mallory and tells her that he'll let her go free, but that she would have to face her fear and go for a ride on his boat. He then blindfolds her and drives around for a while to disorient her before they board the boat. Eventually, Stanley attempts to drown her, but fortunately she is rescued shortly thereafter, by local police officer Boone and a couple who own a movie special-effects shop nearby. After taking time to recuperate, Mallory then gives the idea to make a plaster-mold of herself, with a camera as an eye, to catch the killer when he returns to his garden. When Stanley returns to the bodies, he discovers the ploy and quickly escapes, his identity hidden by his scuba mask.
Mallory, assuming herself safe, stays at a hotel room for the night, but is soon discovered and recaptured by Stanley who immediately prepares to drown her again. However, complications arise when Stanley's agent Regan and the director to the film he is writing arrive at the cabin unexpectedly. He kills the director with a cleaver, then imprisons Regan with Mallory. He then takes them both to the lake to drown them, but Boone and the other police dive in and quickly release Mallory. Although Regan's body is recovered, Stanley is presumed dead, having snagged his leg on a rope in his own garden. Mallory tries to recover from the experience, though she continues to be haunted by visions of her former captor.
The last scene has a person pitching a movie to a new agent, in which a killer buries his victims alive. The agent asks them how the person feels as they're buried alive. The camera reveals the person to be Stanley with a new look, as he says "I'm still doing the research."
Cast
- Judd NelsonJudd NelsonJudd Asher Nelson is an American actor. He is best known for being a member of the "Brat Pack" in the mid-1980s; and for his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbary in St...
as Stanley - Hedy BurressHedy Burress-Early life:She was born Heather Elizabeth Burress in Edwardsville, Illinois, to teacher parents. She attended Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, before relocating to Los Angeles, California, in 1995.-Career:...
as Mallory - Michael WeatherlyMichael WeatherlyMichael Manning Weatherly, Jr. is an American actor, best known for his roles as Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo on the television series NCIS, and Logan Cale on the television series Dark Angel.-Early life:...
as Boone - Susan GibneySusan GibneySusan Gibney is an American actress. She has 5 older, and two younger, siblings. She moved to Webster, New York at a young age, returned to California to live several times, and again has lived in Webster since 2004. Susan graduated from Buffalo State College in New York with a major in theater...
as Regan - Bernie CoulsonBernie CoulsonBernie Coulson is a Canadian-born actor best known for his roles as The Thinker on the American television series The X Files, as well as Michael Reardon on the Canadian-based television series Intelligence and Pipefitter, the drummer of a reuniting punk band, in the Canadian mockumentary Hard...
as Duncan - Colleen Wheeler as Lauren
- Bob Dawson as Sheriff
- G. Patrick Currie as Logan
- John B. Destry as Melvin (as John Destry)
- Guy Jellis as Deputy
- Rebecca Reichert as Babette
- Marnie Alton as Brooke
- Jennifer Carmichael as Tiffany
- Barbara Pollard as Hotel Manager