A group of techie-types, Mike (Lee Ravitz), Phil (Franck Assi), Ann (Emma Bown) and Georgie (Victoire Vecchierini) to be specific, are tasked with fixin’ up a downed satellite transmitter. Sounds as thrilling as watching paint dry.
Thankfully there’s more to this terror tale, as soon our heroes run afoul of some shady sorts when they are detoured to partake in a rescue mission involving a downed plane…a plane that has crashed next to a lake that is releasing transmissions that affect the mind and time itself. But all is not as it seems, as who…or what…ever is sending those sinister signals has a ghoulish game to play, and the stakes…and reward may well tear those involved apart!
Looking for a nice, straight forward fright flick that makes perfect sense? Well, fuck you, because Landing Lake, the debut film from writer/director Cesare P. Libardi di K (who also produced and edited the film) has an insane-o aesthetic that is easily on par with ’80’s Italian sci-fi shockers, such as Luigi Cozzi’s Contamination or Ciro Ippolito’s Alien 2: On Earth, where logic gives way to anything goes, fever-dream lstorytelling and effects set-pieces (the main one here being some messy body melts)…and man-o-man is that an awesome, rarely seen these days, thing (at least as far as your’s cruelly is concerned)!
Of course it doesn’t hurt that the flick was actually filmed in Italy (on 35mm no less) in some fantastically eerie wicked woods shot to perfection by Cinematographer Giuseppe Pignone; and while all of the performances aren’t show stoppers; the acting of Phil Zimmerman as plane crash survivor Jack is something you have to behold; he’s a sleazy-ass mother fucker like you won’t believe…and he utters a line so unbelievably P.C. jaws will surly drop!
Adding to the whole ambiance is a fantastic, synth-heavy score by Corrado Pollacci; the perfect mood-setter for this slice of spaghetti sci-fi shenanigans!
To sum it up; if you dig on ’80’s-style Italian lensed, effects-laden surrealist sci-fi then Landing Lake will doubtless make your monstrous motor hum…just be prepared to check logic at the door and fall into the off-kilter universe this flick presents!
