Lake of the Dead (1958)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Lake of the Dead (1958) – K. Bergstrøm

Norwegian ghost story that manages to evoke a spooky feel (with a few moonlit shots of actors drawn to the haunted lake) even while succumbing to an excessively talky script.  Perhaps this is because the story and screenplay were drawn from an existing novel (and the novelist takes a turn at acting a minor part here).  Or perhaps it is because the ghost story has a number of complicated points to explain (e.g., the possibly incestuous bond of boy-girl twins, the Freudian interpretation of dreams) that need to be spoken rather than shown (although this is an empirical question).  At any rate, we follow a group of adult couples as they visit a large cabin in the woods where they learn the local legend about a peg-legged ghost who possesses people and drives them to drown themselves in the nearby lake.  Not coincidentally, their expected host, one half of the twins in question, has gone missing and his sister is the one drawn to the lake at night.  Fortunately, a psychologist and a constable are both on hand to help solve the mystery, which may or may not have supernatural origins.  Worth a look just for its B&W eeriness alone.