I was ready to turn this off in the first couple minutes but withheld and did wind up watching to the end. Did not care for the many dragged out T&A scenes.Best acting was done by lead actor Marc Sentor who played Ray Pye. He looked like and even his acting reminded me of a cross between a young Ray Liotta and Rob Lowe. Hope he gets more lead roles in better scripts because he deserves it.Sometimes it reminded of American Psycho though the only pop tune it played on and off as sound track was "I'm a Pied Piper" from the 60's. I guess why I rated it only a five is because I didn't care for most of the characters and outside of Ray Pye they were under developed. Again, more could have been done there over the extended T&A scenes. Nearly every character we did somewhat get to know was dysfunctional and not totally likable. Sometimes it was difficult to tell who was the sickest personality or character.I would have rather seen more suspense and logical/realistic detective work rather than Pye having a meltdown or whatever that was. Also didn't care for the ending or the big climax.But kudos to Marc Sentor, I'd give him a 10 out of 10 for his stellar performance. It's worth a watch if you can handle the T&A.

The Lost starts late one night as Ray Pye (Marc Senter) & his two best friends Timmy (Alex Frost) & Jennifer (Shay Astar) are out in the woods, Ray spots two girls who start kissing each other which offends Ray's moral sensibilities so he shoots them with a rifle killing one girl & leaving the other in a coma. Jump forward 'Four Years Later' & the crime remains unsolved, the girl has been in a coma for four years but has now died. Detective Charlie Schilling (Michael Bowden) has investigated the case for four years & his only suspect is Ray, Schilling is convinced Ray is responsible but cannot prove it. Ray is obsessed with his image & chats up every girl he meets, he has violent outbursts & is mentally unstable. Schilling tries to manipulate Timmy & Jennifer's fear of Ray in order to get a confession but when Ray finds out he loses control completely...Written, produced & directed by Chris Silvertson based on the novel by Jack Ketchum this rather dull serial killer thriller is more of a character study & was a real chore for me to sit through, there is no horror or suspense & I thought it was pretty lifeless. The script focuses on Ray as a character, the problem with that is I though Ray was extremely unlikable. Ray is arrogant, treats people like dirt, he's a liar & cheat, he's a callous murderer, a druggie & selfish which is just about every annoying trait you can imagine which makes him as a character very unappealing & impossible to relate to. I was also quite surprised at how long The Lost goes on for, at a good two hours I felt like i had been sat there watching this for days as not that much actually happens. After the two girls are shot during the opening the script just follows Ray around, there's some subplots about an underage romance, the cop trying to prove Ray is responsible & a rich girl named Katherine who pops up occasionally & seemingly isn't bothered when her boyfriend Ray admits he brutally murdered two girls in cold blood. What all the good looking girls in this find so attractive about Ray is a complete mystery to me, a lying two timing rat like Ray turns on his bad boy charm & the girls just fall for it. Generally the script is quite bitty, it never seems to focus on one aspect of the story for too long & with such an unlikable central character I found the film hard to sit through.Horror author Jack Ketchum drew his inspiration for the character of Ray Pye from the real life convicted serial killer Charles Schmid who was apparently nicknamed the 'Pied Piper of Tuscon' for reasons I don't have a clue about. The character of Ray Pye represents Schmid quite well apparently including his fake mole & copious use of lipstick & make-up. There is next to no violence or gore here, a few people get shot at the end & the two girls are shot at the start but with not much happening between them don't expect a high body-count or a blood bath. There's some sex & nudity thrown in if that's your thing.Filmed on a low budget the film looks alright & has decent production values but with lots of dialogue heavy exposition The Lost didn't need to have a big budget. The acting is pretty good, I can't say I warmed to any of the character's but maybe that show's how good the performances are as I don't think your supposed to like anyone.The Lost is a film that starts off quite well & promises to be a serial killer thriller but settles down into a boring character study full of melodramatic tedium that bored me silly. At two hours long not enough happened to maintain my interest & a really unlikable central character just killed the viewing experience dead for me.

Ray Pyke(Marc Senter) is a narcissistic developing psychopath, whose volatile nature is sure to eventually meet a crescendo of violence as his drug habit and infantile fits of rage represent a volcano on it's way to eruption. Ray's friend Tim(Alex Frost)and girlfriend Jen(Shay Astar)bare witness to his gunning down two girls camping out, and must carry such a burden out of fear for their safety(..that, and Ray has a control over them). This depraved act of violence works as a reminder to us that Ray is a ticking timebomb, as we watch his life slowly spiral out of control as Detective Charlie Schilling(Michael Bowen)hounds him over the murders, knowing that he's the one responsible, just without proof. Ray is the kind of dirtbag who dresses like a country stud, with boots(..with crushed bear cans to make him look taller), black jeans and shirt(..with additional slight touches of eyeliner )& hair slicked back right in place. Sparta, as we soon realize, is a small blot in Texas where dreams are elsewhere and the pretty girls who live in this place have few options in regards to male suitors so Ray is one they flock to. He's merely an assistant manager of his mom's "Bates Motel", but carries himself as if he ruled the world. Just charismatic enough to attract the local female, but it's merely an endless parade of humping and dumping, with the girls returning because there's nobody else it seems. Three particular female characters which have the misfortune to have ever found themselves locked into Ray's radar are Sally Richmond(Alice Hirson), a young woman, temporarily working as a maid for his hotel, who wants nothing at all to do with him, recognizing the kind of sleazoid he really is(..that, and she is involved with a 60 year old retired detective portrayed by screen vet Ed Lauter), Kat Wallace(Robin Sydney), a wealthy babe, her mom a schizophrenic, whose obviously attracted to the danger and mystery he presents(..that, and she's bored and craving excitement), not knowing how obsessive and juvenile he really is, and, of course, Jen who would do anything to please him, always on the receiving end of neglect, ridicule., and abuse. Somewhat holding himself together, while abusing drugs and liquor, it's only an amount of time before Ray snaps.The fuse is lit by Katherine who Ray longs for in every possible way, as she backs away from a possible relationship..it's realized that Ray was a fling for her, and she wishes to move on with her life. Also adding to this is the discovery that Tim and Jen have slept together(..and that Tim has been taking hash from him). We have come to the understanding that Ray's sanity is hanging by a thread and it won't require much for him to crack.Sivertson's disturbing portrait of decaying youth bent on destruction, given commanding treatment thanks to how developed the story is, and how it will end. Ray is the kind of character just looking for an excuse to terrorize somebody, and Senter does a good job of displaying the many facets of his troubled character..someone attracted to the spotlight, addicted to a neverending stream of girls and drugs, also carrying serious homicidal tendencies, whose anger fits and outbursts serve as a warning of things to come. Robin Sydney is quite a find, a stunning bombshell whose quite photogenic and seductive(..the camera loves her)..you can see how such a gal would cause Ray(..or many a man)to get all out of sorts. Astar is appropriately pathetic, and sympathetic as Ray's much maligned squeeze, deeply in love with him no matter how emotionally he abuses her..Ray doesn't even hide his sexual excess from her, yet Jen remains loyal to him. Frost is the buddy who probably wishes to be Ray, to have the girls at his feet, the charisma to approach people the way he does. This setting is rather depressing in that we see a cast of characters with little to do but embrace the drug and sex culture available. Ray's fury at the end is rather unsettling and shocking, once he decides to go on a shooting rampage, killing anyone he so chooses(..this has been on the horizon for some time, and Kat's rejection of him finally sends him over the edge), gathering up the girls who infuriated him the most. We also follow Schilling's dogged determination and on-going interrogation to bring Ray to justice, getting what he has so longed for with the unfortunate price of lives. Sivertson's skills as a visual filmmaker are proved here(..and in I KNOW WHO KILLED ME, although that one is ridiculously convoluted and silly)with how he captures the events and characters, building them to the eventual climax. Carefully, Sivertson details what will bring Ray to the breaking point, and those characters who are effected by his rage. The climax takes place in the cabin where Ray discovered the guns used on innocent people, and is appropriately chilling, as he collects the girls who caused his psychological trauma together..completely unglued, Ray has become lost to madness(even besieging a couple there to clean up the place;his violence towards them is truly unpleasant, to say the least)as Schilling grills Tim for his whereabouts.

...that Tobe Hooper is a DVD quote whore, and writer/director/producer Chris Sivertson undoubtedly deserved his Razzie for "I Know Who Killed Me." Gotta say I'm glad I picked this one up cheap, and most surely will be selling it off again asap. "The Lost" is a prime example of a film that should be. Based on a novel by one of the better known (or so I'm told) "splatter punk" writers, "The Lost" fails to translate into anything exciting, despite a plenitude of sex and violence. It's certainly not a horror movie, although it's gruesome enough. It's not a thriller because there's no tension, no dramatic build. Syd Field would be aghast. With brand-name actors and a smarter, tenser, terser script, it might have come to something, but alas, that was not to be. It's a character study that only intermittently focuses on its alleged subject, one Ray Pye, a Norman Bates wanna-be who "pops" a few young campers as a teenager just to see what it feels like, and then proceeds to go postal four years later when the unwitting accomplices to his crime finally break under the pressure of their guilt. Mostly well shot, but poorly edited, "The Lost" abruptly jerks and fades its way along its threadbare storyline, pausing along the way for target audience demographic enhancement in the plentiful form of gratuitous nudity, vulgarity, and stupidity. Beyond that, it offers nothing new to any genre. What "style" it may or may not have is all over the place, at times reminding me of lo-fi exploitation with a higher-fi budget--like what a multi-million dollar Jim Van Bebber film might look like--and other times betraying a film school eagerness to impress. It all plays out a jumbled mess, with little pace and no tension, shallow characters and banal dialogue. Surely the novel is better. Surely.Desperation, time-killing viewing only. Appearances by Dee "The Howling" Wallace-Stone and Ed "Cujo" Lauter provided them nice paychecks, I trust. It gets a "4" from me strictly for reasonably decent production values and random titillation; otherwise, this baby could only be loved by its parents. You want something that will unnerve you, go watch "Repulsion," or maybe "Funny Games."