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Sue - Todd Filler
May 2004
Pick of the
Week: Surprises are in store at Lake Evermore
by Sue Todd-Filler
Special Products Editor
The independent movie scene seems to be taking off in Northeast Ohio these days.
Sunday afternoon at the West Theatre, I was treated to the result of one of
these indie efforts, a film shot in and around Barberton called Lake Evermore.
Lake Evermore is a sci-fi, modern-day Gothic-type hybrid that keeps its audience
guessing right up until the end. It began its journey to the big screen
approximately two years ago as part of a “Twilight Zone”-esque anthology named
The Forbidden Closet.
After a screening of Closet last year, I was of the opinion that, while the
entire movie was quite good, the final installment, “Lake Evermore,” deserved to
be its own film.
Evidently the filmmakers had the same opinion, because Fool’s Gold
Entertainment’s Steve Pallotta and Gary Kiser spent several months extending and
re-editing the footage to create a full-length feature. They retained the basic
premise of a woman, Evie Turner (Kim Hendrickson), and her husband Mike (Rick
Montgomery) who inherit a cottage in a small, lakeside community where nothing
seems to change, then discover the surface tranquility hides a dark secret in
its depths.
Lengthening a short into a feature can be either a disaster or a triumph, and
Lake Evermore, due to some smart decisions by 1977 Cuyahoga Falls High graduates
Pallotta and Kiser, falls into the latter category. It would have been easy to
add a bunch of scenes that did nothing but reinforce the strangely old-fashioned
stagnancy of the small town or beat the exposition to death, but Pallotta and
Kiser instead fleshed out the plotline and some of the characters, added a few
more characters and gave the surprise ending yet another twist - and reinforced
the strangeness while they were at it.
Don Morgan, made famous among Fool’s Gold fans by his pit bull glare as he
cruised by Montgomery in a vintage Studebaker after Mike set in motion a chain
of events that ultimately would lead to everyone’s downfall, has a much bigger
role in the extended version of the film. The “glare scene” remained - and drew
just as many laughs this time around - but the character, Doc Morgan, became an
integral cog in the machinery that draws the Turners toward their destiny. In
fact, the glare is even better after seeing Morgan, with a sweet, puppy-dog
smile, serenely explain how he gave up a lucrative but stressful career for a
bucolic life in Lake Evermore.
Bruce Ramsey, who, sadly, passed away the day before the premiere, gave new
meaning to the term “mood swings” as general store owner Ben Bradley, switching
from benevolent to menacing at the drop of a hat (or in this case, a chess
piece) by abruptly erasing his genial, kindly-uncle smile. The film was
dedicated to Ramsey with a memorial graphic at the end of the closing credits.
Some of the other expanded roles include Elmer Polk (Frank Wallis), an
“everybody’s grandpa” character who nearly converts Mike to an appreciation of
country life; Mrs. Flowers (Wilma Swan), a family friend who hasn’t changed a
bit since Evie was a little girl; Karl (Jerry Spears), Ben’s assistant at the
store who looks to be about Mike’s and Evie’s age but whose memories don’t fit
his face; and Floyd (Chuck Cavanaugh), the mailman who delivers the key to the
whole mystery. Pallotta and Kiser also included a group of widows, children and
various townspeople who all seem to recognize Evie, regardless of whether they
should or not. The mysterious town of Summerville, which was mentioned in the
short, made an appearance in the feature film - although a sign over one of the
businesses clearly marks it as downtown Barberton.
The theme behind the original short, which seemed to be a not-too-subtle poke at
developers who prey on small towns and open spaces, took on a deeper meaning in
the expanded version of Lake Evermore, and may be a bit harder to pin down. The
“if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude of the townspeople is justified as we
see part of the reason behind the tenuous, delicate balance of the Lake Evermore
community, but there also is a genuine case made for change and progress, if
only to avoid the inhabitants’ Stepford-like serenity, which gets creepier every
minute.
The one obvious moral is that our actions cannot be retracted, so we may never
get a second chance at missed or bungled opportunities.
The new ending gave me goosebumps, but it confused me a little, too. Without
revealing the plot twist, I have to say I’m not sure where it fits in the order
of events or whether Mike and Evie got a second chance after all.
But, life isn’t always clear-cut, so perhaps Pallotta and Kiser meant to leave
us with a little mystery. Or, maybe a second or third viewing of the new
material is what’s needed.
The film is available for $13 on DVD and VHS at
www.foolsgoldentertainment.com
. I doubt it will be injured by its transfer to the small screen; in fact, some
of the digital effects that appeared a bit pixilated in the theater may come out
smoother on TV. And I don’t know whether it was due to the projection equipment
provided by Northeast Projections Inc. or the efforts of the Fool’s Gold staff,
but the concerns I had last year about the sound quality of the film have been
relieved - the dialogue is clear and easy to understand this time.
Lake Evermore has that huddle-around-the-campfire, cheerfully creepy feeling of
all those ghost stories we scared each other with when we were kids, and the new
footage just adds to all the fun of the original. Watch it with a group of
friends and a plate of s’mores.
E-mail: sfiller@recordpub.net
Phone: 330-688-0088, ext. 3153
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