As a New Jersey resident myself, I was both intrigued and perplexed by The Lake on Clinton Road as soon as I saw it was being released; but I’ll get to that a little later. Fact of the matter was, I was thoroughly excited for this title and anticipated receiving my screener. Having watched it now the question is – did it live up to my expectations? Read on to find out.
The Lake on Clinton Road is written and directed by DeShon Hardy. Cast members include Richard Ryker, Stephanie Marrone, Leah Jones, Matty Poslusny, India Autry, Anthony Grant and Tina Krause (Sorority Slaughter, Zombie Holocaust).
“When six friends from Massachusetts finish up classes for the semester, they decide to take a road trip to the Jersey Shore. A birthday celebration at a shore house will be the highlight of their summer, or so they thought. When they get to the house, they realize it’s not the beach house they were expecting. It’s actually in the middle of the woods off a long spooky road, Clinton Road. Clinton Road has been haunted for the past 50 years, this is what Alex, Jillian, Amber, Jamie, Stacy and Mark will soon find out as one by one they all disappear.”
Ok, again. I’m a New Jersey resident. I live at the New Jersey Shore and I’ve been to the actual Clinton Road before. First of all, the location of Clinton Road is about two and a half hours north of the Jersey Shore. So, this inaccuracy was a little bit of a bother to someone such as myself who has a lot of pride in the Garden State’s shorelines and its weird, haunting back-roads. Secondly, there are so many rumors and myths about Clinton Road; from ghosts to cryptids, witches, satanists, druids, KKK meetings, a body dumping ground for a killer who froze his victims, an abandoned mini-castle, crazy car chases and last but not least – the little boy on the bridge. Legend has it, a little boy accidentally drowned in the river that a small bridge stretches over on Clinton Road. If you stop your car on the bridge at night, turn your lights off and throw change into the river, his ghostly form will throw the change back at you. This legend was the primary focus of The Lake on Clinton Road, although certain parts were accentuated to make the danger more realistic and horrifying.
But, that’s the problem. I’m sorry, but The Lake on Clinton Road is a big old snoozer. For a film with so much raw material to go with, it fell flat on its face and was painfully dull and boring; to the point where I hit fast forward a couple times. My mind is absolutely boggled. With all the crazy stuff going on there, this film could have gone in a million different directions and could have been much better. The DeShon Hardy version of the little boy in the water wasn’t as interesting from script to screen and crossing boundaries with one of the other legends from Clinton Road could have given this movie extra “oomph.” This was, honestly, such a let down.
It’s a shame, too, because The Lake on Clinton Road had a great production team and cast behind it. I enjoyed the toned down cinematography and the shots. I enjoyed the performances from all the actors, though I hated all the characters except for Mark (played by Anthony Grant). The practical special effects were fantastic and the visual effects were just as good. Again, The Lake on Clinton Road had everything it took to be a pretty decent film, but the screenplay just killed the Hell out of it. And, unfortunately, the plot and story progression is what I look forward to the most. There was no anticipation, no suspense and no fright here. Ugh.
Final Score: 4.5 out of 10
DeShon Hardy is also from the shore. I think, considering their budget and what obstacles they were faced with pre-production, I think for DeShon’s and Urban Mouse’s first independent film, they did a decent job
Awful, just something that never should have happened, I wish my eyes had started bleeding so I didn’t have to watch this awful thing unfold before me
It was awful,I agree.