Lovers Lane Reviews

In flashbacks, we learn of the brutal slayings of philandering Mrs. Anderson and her equally married boyfriend, Mr. Lamson, at Lovers' Lane. These thrill-killings are subsequently pinned on a hook-wielding drifter named Ray (Ed Bailey). Now in their teens, Michael (Riley Smith), the son of Widow Lamson (Suzanne Bouchard), and Mandy (Erin J. Dean), the daughter of widowed Sheriff Anderson (Matt Reidy), have grown up in the shadow of these crimes. When Ray escapes from the insane asylum, his psychologist, Jack (Richard Sanders), fears that both Michael and Mandy will become his next victims. No sooner does Jack, who's also the Sheriff's half-brother, reiterate the urgency of recapturing Ray than several teens fall prey to a fiend while cruising near a local makeout point. Despite incriminating evidence against Ray, Sheriff Anderson harbors doubts, and his job only gets tougher when his niece Chloe (Sarah Lancaster) appears to be connected to the carnage somehow. In the annals of slasher films, it's doubtful there's ever been one with more possible suspects, but such an abundance only creates confusion, not suspense. As copulating teens get the hook, the script pays lip service to repressed sexual desire, but it's the gruesomely depicted murders that are guaranteed to whet the appetites of gorehounds. If only the recent spate of teen horror films had followed in the creepy footsteps of HALLOWEEN instead of the bloody tracks of FRIDAY THE 13th. The former cannily suggests menace lurking at the edges of the frame; the latter just lets it all spill out.