Okay, I don't know about you but if I am buying a house (or renting not so sure what was going on here?) I tend to look in the basement . . . maybe it is just me?
I am going to start right off the bat here by saying
The People Across the Lake was definitely some kind of Lifetime movie. Although I saw it on Encore, it stunk of a Lifetime movie - mind you that not all Lifetime movies stink bad. This one was probably mid-way up the stink scale for me but that means it wasn't horribly bad at the very least.
The basic story is a family of four Yomans - Mom Rachel (Valerie Harper), Dad Chuck (Gerald McRaney), daughter Lisa (Tammy Lauren) and son Stevie (Gregory Togel) - decide that city life is just too infested with crime and worry and they move on out to Tomahawk Lake where they promptly open up a wind surfing shop. They begin to live their fairytale lives until dead bodies start popping up all over the gosh darned place!
With a sheriff who really couldn't give a hoot (Thomas Peacocke) and his deputy (Jeff Kaiser) who seems a little slow on the uptake, it doesn't seem like the Yomans are going to be at all taken seriously about their little dead body problem. Not to mention the locals who are just a tad bit off their rocker and are actually angry with the Yomans for possibly driving away tourists with talk of the dead bodies spreading rapidly through the small lake town.
I have to mention my favorite scene here from the movie. Rachel and Chuck are out in front of their shop eating deep fried fish and one of the local yokels points out that the tourists aren't going to want to eat the locally caught and deep fried fish if they hear stories of aforementioned fish nibbling on the toes of dead bodies in the lake. That was classic!
A lot of bad acting, strange faces by Valerie Harper and a wacky storyline to begin with make this movie not among one of the greatest. If you ignore the overacting by Valerie Harper, Barry Corbin and Dorothy Lyman as well as most of the rest of the cast you'll be alright. I also read a review that said if you viewed this made for tv movie as a comedy you'd like it better and I do tend to agree with that statement! But when it comes right down to it, what
The People Across the Lake is kind of good for is a day just like today when I viewed it - pouring rain outside, not much to do but sit around and watch the tube and veg out a bit.
The People Across the Lake Movie Cast and Credits
Directed by
Arthur Allan Seidelman
Writing credits
Bill McCutchen (story) and
Dalene Young (story and teleplay)
Cast (in credits order)
Valerie Harper .... Rachel Yoman
Gerald McRaney .... Chuck Yoman
Barry Corbin .... Malcolm Bryce
Tammy Lauren .... Lisa Yoman
Daryl Anderson .... Henry Link
Jeff Kaiser .... John Bryce (as Jeff Kizer)
Gary Bisig
Gregory Togel .... Stevie Yoman
Dorothy Lyman .... Ruth
Thomas Peacocke .... Sheriff Boignton
Frank C. Turner .... Eli
Johannah Newmarch .... Debbie
Don MacKay .... Real Estate Agent
Matt Hill .... Lisa's Boyfriend
Judy Herridge .... Martha
More Reviews of The People Across the Lake
The People Across the Lake Movie Review at Hysteria LivesThe People Across the Lake Movie Review and Information Page at The Internet Movie Database
