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THE LOST: A MOVIE REVIEW
by Nate Southard

Sitting in The Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin, Texas theater/bar/restaurant, I watched Jack Ketchum take the stage alongside director Chris Sivertson and several other cast and crewmembers for a Q and A. I had just seen the film adaptation of Ketchum's novel The Lost, and, like most of the audience, was in a mild state of shock.

A woman raised her hand, and a young man in a yellow T-shirt pointed to her.

“Go ahead.”

“Yes. I had a question for the director. The film is incredibly violent, and I just wanted to know if your intent was to entertain or to rub our faces in it.”

Sivertson's initial answer?

“Which part?”

Put simply, The Lost is an incredible film. Running the gamut from hilarious to thought provoking to outright terrifying, the movie grabs you by the collar and slams you against the wall, daring you to look away for just a single second. You can try, but in the end you'll fail. You're too scared the film might throw a sucker punch at you.

For those who haven't read Ketchum's novel, The Lost tells the story of Ray Pye (Marc Senter), a teenager who wears a fake mole and stuffs his boots with beer cans to make himself look taller, and his transformation from juvenile delinquent to blood-thirsty madman. The story begins with Pye murdering two girls in a local campground. Their crime? They might be “lezzies” because they didn't swoon over him, though more likely Ray just wanted to whet his appetite for homicide. Sending his panicked friends Jennifer and Tim (played by Shay Astar and Alex Frost) back home to fetch shovels, Ray takes the time to roast himself a hotdog before realizing one of his victims, who wasn't quite dead yet, has escaped.

Flash forward four years. Two detectives: Charlie Schilling (Michael Bowen) and Ed Anderson (Ed Lauter), have never been able to compile enough evidence against Ray, their only suspect in the murders, to bring him to trial. Ray is still cocky as all get out, sleeping with an emotionally shattered Jen while chasing hellraiser Katherine (Robin Sydney) and intelligent Sally (Megan Henning), who just so happens to be in a relationship with Ed, who's forty years her senior. Tim hangs in there where he can, pining after Jen and running hash for Ray.

When Ray's escaped victim dies after spending the past four years in a coma, Charlie decides to finally make Ray pay for his crime. He begins pushing and prodding Pye, goading him into making a mistake. When Ray starts getting pushed from too many directions, however, he explodes in a truly horrific display of violence.

Sivertson, who makes his feature film debut with The Lost, has crafted a faithful adaptation to Ketchum's novel. The plot makes no unexpected deviation from the source material, and with the exception of the near removal of Tim, who receives maybe ten minutes total screentime, keeps all characters intact. Sivertson's camera work is excellent. From the opening tracking shot of Ray's boot-clad feet to the frenetic style of the film's barbaric finale, he shoots the story with a confidence rarely found in young filmmakers. He also makes great use of the soundtrack, from using Del Shannon's “The Pied Piper” as Ray's theme song to the presence of a buzzing mosquito whenever Pye starts to lose control. I would not be surprised to hear Sivertson's name on everybody's lips in the next few years.

On the acting side, the movie belongs to Marc Senter and Shay Astar. Senter makes Ray Pye a believable, terrifying villain when he could be Snidely Whiplash with a fake mole and mascara. From the film's opening frames, Senter plays Pye with a cockiness that makes you want to slap the living shit out of him and keep on slapping until he starts shooting more than an hour later. From his smile to his swagger to the petulant child you can see bubbling just beneath the surface, Senter makes Pye spark. I met Marc Senter after the screening, and I have to confess I was more than a little scared to shake his hand; his work as Ray Pye was so convincing.

And Astar is a revelation as Jennifer. Doing more character work with a look than most can with a monologue, Astar portrays Jen with more layers than you can count. You can look into her eyes and see her trying to hold herself together, convince herself that everything really will be all right in the end. She's always a second away from bursting into tears, and the bruises on her upper arms tell you she rarely goes anywhere unless Ray's dragging her. Watch for a single look during the film's final moments that will leave you in awe.

Oh, and for those of you wondering if Ketchum went the Stephen King route and made a cameo, he certainly did. Look for him early in the film as a bartender with a friendly chuckle.

To go back and take a stab at answering that woman's question, whether The Lost is meant to entertain or simply rub your faces in its violence, the film does both. The Lost can be highly entertaining, especially the psychological sparring between Charlie and Ray and Pye's constant, shameless pursuit of the fairer sex. In the final reel, however, you're treated to so much violence and evil you can't help but feel it's been slathered all over you. Ketchum, who has seen the movie a few times, confessed to me that he still gets squeamish during the ending, and I can see why. I wanted to look away, but couldn't. Not since such movies as The Last House on the Left and I Spit on Your Grave have I been witness to such cinematic bloodshed. The Lost is an exploration of evil and savagery that will leave you thoughtful and breathless. It's no wonder that, as the credits rolled, the theater slowly filled with applause, the applause of an audience who's not quite sure if clapping will damn them to hell or not.

-- by Nate Southard