The Lost Blu-ray features mediocre video and poor audio in this mediocre Blu-ray release
Four years ago Ray murdered two young women at a local campground and his friends help him cover it up.
Now, Detective Charlie Schilling and his ex-partner know Ray did it and they plan on pushing him until they can
prove it.
Once upon a time, a boy named Ray Pye put crushed beer cans in his boots to make himself
taller.
What a difference two hours can make. The Lost seems headed nowhere fast in spite of
a
rowdy and unnerving opening segment, and while that meandering feeling lingers through much
of
the production, its purpose is realized by picture's end when the film's derangement, wayward
tone,
and plethora of characters converge for a grotesque and unforgettable evening of terror that's
outwardly nauseating in its excessive violence but, and more crucial to the film, inwardly
troublesome thanks to its effective and chilling depiction of a mind lost to some unfathomable
depth
where fantasy, reality, and everything in between becomes jumbled in a selfish and psychotic
breakdown where right and wrong have no meaning. Based on a novel of the same name by
Jack
Ketchum, The Lost isn't artful cinema, but it elicits a response and manages to transform
itself from an insipid film in a near comatose state to something that offers a glimpse into the
depths of the human psyche, but without much to show for it at the end. A noble effort to
showcase the dangers of a polluted mind, The Lost offers a barrage of gratuitous nudity
and
violence and uses them to demonstrate just how low humanity can sink, but as for a purpose or
lesson to be learned -- aside from "don't kill a bunch of people" -- well, there really isn't any.
The face of a lunatic.
Ray Pye (Marc Senter), his girlfriend Jennifer (Shay Astar), and friend Tim (Alex Frost) stumble
across two girls on a camping trip. Ray decides to murder them in cold blood and for no good
reason. One dies instantly and the other manages to escape but perishes in a comatose state
four
years later. Police suspect Ray in the killings, but could never collect any substantial evidence in
their favor. Ray's still with Jennifer, but he's also unfaithful to her; she remains with him for his
popularity and iron-fisted control over her, even if she secretly wishes otherwise. Ray makes an
unsuccessful pass at a young girl named Sally (Megan Henning), an employee at his mother's
motel, but
he does manage to connect with the beautiful Katherine (Robin Sydney), a young daddy's girl
with a taste for adventure and an odd attraction to Ray's bad boy attitude that he effectively
intermixes with a false sweetness. Ray confides his darkest secrets to Katherine and finds
himself helplessly attracted to her, all the while continuing on with his relationship with Jennifer.
When Ray's world starts to crumble around him and he loses his control over the women in his
life, his already fragile mental state leads him down a path of no return that promises to forever
alter the landscape of his quiet hometown.
One of the film's key moments comes in its opening title card that relays the short tale of a
young boy who once placed crushed beer cans in his shoes to appear taller. It's that sort of detail
that truly defines the film's lead character, who throughout is both protagonist and antagonist, a
fairly unique character that's impossible to like but nevertheless, at times, easy to empathize
with as he demonstrates flashes of innocence, confusion, and even desperation in a life that's
always been about him -- and only him -- but still hasn't made him complete. Indeed, it's the
Ray character and all that's rattling around inside his head that makes The Lost an
intriguing little slice of rather obscure cinema; he lives in a world that attempts to embrace him,
satisfy him, and understand him, but for Ray, that's not enough. Whether wanting to look taller,
accentuating his features (or adding new ones) with make-up, seeking out new female
conquests, or murdering two innocent girls simply for the thrill of the moment, Ray's life remains
incomplete, a fact he struggles with throughout the picture, even when everything seems to be
under his control. The Lost does an exceptional job of demonstrating Ray's way of life,
framing his loss of control in contexts that reinforce his true loneliness and confusion, and while
it's not enough to completely comprehend his selfish and aggressive actions throughout the
picture, the film does a fine job of showing the audience the hows and the whys. Then again,
considering a mind that's this lost and confused, that's about all one could ask.
The Lost's grisly tone and confused structure that reinforces the thought patterns of a
warped mind are nicely captured in Director Chris Sivertson's (I Know Who Killed
Me) film. He makes use of a jumbled physical structure that entwines rough footage
with more modern and slick techniques, but much of the picture has something of a vintage
1970s feel, appropriate considering the novel was set in the Vietnam era, though the film takes
place in an unspecified but identifiably modern setting. Stylistically, the film makes more sense in
hindsight or in repeat viewings than it does upon initial inspection; The Lost is a film that
contains elements, pacing, characters, and settings that aren't immediately recognizable as
important to the thematic structure of the picture or coherent in placing throughout the movie;
indeed, The Lost isn't a film of misdirection, but it is a film of deliberate obscurity that
manages to take several base elements and allow them to all contribute to Ray's continued
decline into excessive self-indulgence and self-centeredness and the subsequent fall from grace as
he allows the pressures of his world and of his own making to get the best of him and ruin the
lives of those that dared become part of his life, wittingly or otherwise. The film's performances
are startlingly good as well, though again, all of the idiosyncrasies don't necessarily make sense in
the broader context until the film's flashpoint and uncertain conclusion.
The Lost arrives on Blu-ray with a messy 1080p, 2.35:1-framed transfer. The film's
opening sequence -- particularly nighttime shots -- inspires little confidence in the image.
Featuring banding, overwhelming blacks, and plenty of white splotches over the image, not to
mention a lack of fine detail, heavy noise, and the absence of depth, The Lost sets a
visual tone that's underwhelming at best and remains so throughout the picture. The image
fluctuates between offering
an acceptably sharp image to a particularly fuzzy one, though as the film progresses, there begins
an intermixture of lower-grade film stock to give the movie a deliberately rough-and-tumble feel.
Such scenes are forgivable for excess noise and other assorted problems, and as such, it's
sometimes difficult to discern what's filmmaker intent and what's a flaw of the transfer. Either
way, The Lost is anything but a pretty film. Excess dirt and debris, random vertical lines,
washed out textures, and other maladies seem to accentuate the film's mood but lessen its
overall visual appearance. Fine detail can be moderately good at times, though the film generally
takes on a flat, dull appearance that's devoid of much more than a basic visual structure. With
no commentary track or other supplement to better define the film's intended visual appearance,
it's
difficult to adequately judge this transfer. Suffice it to say, The Lost will never be a good
looking film, but it stands to reason that some of the flaws found here could be corrected in the
future. As such, The Lost earns a fledgling grade smack-dab in the middle of the scale.
The Lost features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack with no lossless or uncompressed options
available. Although there's plenty of ambient and surround sound effects throughout the film,
there's never a sense of realistic space about this track; much of it sounds compressed and stuffed
in the fronts, with ambient effects sometimes too loud or otherwise not naturally implemented into
the mix. Additionally, the film's musical presentations lack that distinct clarity associated with the
better Blu-ray soundtracks. Dialogue is often mushy, and there's no sense of power or ambition
about the track. Low end percussion beats come across as wimpy and lacking even a hint of power,
while more aggressive effects, such as gunshots, do little more than convey a basic sonic signature
that's identifiable as a gunshot but far from realistic in pitch and power. In short, The Lost
features a passable but extremely underwhelming soundtrack that's due in part to the film's limited
budget but also simply a result of a routine mix that does nothing to immerse the listener into the
action.
The Lost is an examination of a wayward soul and a deranged mind. The picture offers no
cause but only effect and no resolution other than to say that, in extreme cases of
self-aggrandizement, there's perhaps no means of escape for those unfortunate enough to fall
victim to a dangerously demented individual. The Lost is a rough, confused film that
doesn't make much sense until Ray's mind unravels beyond the point of no return, when the world
he's built begins to crumble, when he realizes that neither everyone nor everything is under his
absolute, unwavering, unquestioning control. Low budget but highly effective, The Lost is a
brutally graphic, unforgiving, and unflinching glimpse into the life of a disturbed individual, the film
offering no real redeeming value as pure entertainment but is certainly bound to elicit a broad range
of unsettling emotions after the fact. This Starz/Anchor Bay release proves something of a
disappointment, featuring a rough 1080p video transfer, a wimpy lossless soundtrack, and no
extras. Nevertheless, and considering the price, fans should not hesitate to pick this one up, and
The Lost comes recommended to audiences that can stomach one of the more graphic and
unsettling low-budget pictures of the past several years.
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