Lovers Lane (1999) from Arrow Video - April 25, 2023

[drownsoda]

"Passions are aroused and old wounds reopened in this sassy post-Scream teen slasher based on the urban legend of "The Hook".

A steamy secret tryst that was brutally cut short on Valentine's Day an unlucky thirteen years ago comes back to haunt the teens who linger around the lovers lane where the double slaying took place. The County Sheriff Tom Anderson (Matt Riedy) has just about come to terms with the fact that it was his wife who died in another man’s car on that fateful night. His daughter Mandy (Erin J. Dean), who as a four-year-old saw her mother’s corpse carried away from the scene, has a different take on things. It doesn't help that her classmate Michael (Riley Smith) lost his father to the same hook-handed homicidal maniac in that night's incident. To cap it all off, as another Valentine's Day comes round, reports come through that the man arrested as "The Hook" has just bust out of his asylum.

Prepare yourself for the ultimate hook up in a scream-a-minute rollercoaster that marked the film debut of Anna Faris (the Scary Movie series; Lost in Translation).

Product Features:

• Brand new 2K restoration from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Two versions of the film: the widescreen 1.85:1 version and the full-frame 1.33:1 version
• Original lossless stereo audio on both versions
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with writer-producers Geof Miller and Rory Veal
• Screaming Teens: The Legacy of Lovers Lane featurette with Geof Miller and Rory Veal and actors Matt Riedy and Carter Roy
• Original trailers
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Lindsay Hallam and double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady

I picked this up today and watched it this evening—it's one of those films from the early-2000s video store era that I never saw, but remember frequently seeing on the shelves as an adolescent/early teenager. I knew it was Anna Faris's first film before she hit it big with Scary Movie, but that was about it. I had long assumed it was Z-grade garbage, but the Arrow release was too tempting for me to pass up.

This film actually surprised me. It is actually a reasonably good indie slasher that very much has an '80s feel to it. Certainly no masterwork by any stretch of the imagination, but there are much worse films of this type that hit the rental market during this era. I found it quite a lot of fun. It was shot in Seattle, so there is a familiarity for me, having been raised in the Pacific Northwest. I am sort of surprised Arrow picked this up, but I'm glad that they did. If only they could have gotten an interview from Faris on it—I know she met her first husband on this movie, so maybe it's not something she wants to revisit.

[ScareBearDan]

I bought this, had horrible audio sync problems on both the full-frame and widescreen versions, got a replacement disc, and had the same exact issue. I tested both discs on three different TVs and players. The audio begins okay, but by chapter five it is way off. Has anyone else had this problem?

[mca213]

I def noticed some sync issues. Doesn't seem to be a very popular title though so who knows how Arrow will tackle the issue or if they are even aware of it

[JupiterMission]

Bummed to hear there are issues. I've never seen this one, but I had my eye on it to see if people liked it or not. I assume it's not great since there's so little buzz, but a late 90s slasher would have to be pretty bad for me not to enjoy it at least a little.

[trainreck]

Originally Posted by ScareBearDan

I bought this, had horrible audio sync problems on both the full-frame and widescreen versions, got a replacement disc, and had the same exact issue. I tested both discs on three different TVs and players. The audio begins okay, but by chapter five it is way off. Has anyone else had this problem?

Originally Posted by mca213

I def noticed some sync issues. Doesn't seem to be a very popular title though so who knows how Arrow will tackle the issue or if they are even aware of it

I just watched my copy last night, I noticed a slight sync issue while they were inside the diner earlier in the movie but figured that may have been from ADR. Beside the one scene I didn't notice any other audio issues with my copy.

[ScareBearDan]

Originally Posted by trainreck

I just watched my copy last night, I noticed a slight sync issue while they were inside the diner earlier in the movie but figured that may have been from ADR. Beside the one scene I didn't notice any other audio issues with my copy.

Yes, the diner convo is the absolute worst offender. Thanks, everyone, for letting me know I'm not the only one who saw there is an issue.

[levcore]

i love this movie and think it's a great post Scream slasher. I'm really pleased that Arrow have put it out on Blu, i did notice some minor sync issues at times but nothing too prevalent.

[Killer Meteor]

I didn't see any sync issues but a lot of the dialogue was hard to hear.

[Jobla]

Originally Posted by drownsoda

I picked this up today and watched it this evening—it's one of those films from the early-2000s video store era that I never saw, but remember frequently seeing on the shelves as an adolescent/early teenager. I knew it was Anna Faris's first film before she hit it big with Scary Movie, but that was about it. I had long assumed it was Z-grade garbage, but the Arrow release was too tempting for me to pass up.

This film actually surprised me. It is actually a reasonably good indie slasher that very much has an '80s feel to it. Certainly no masterwork by any stretch of the imagination, but there are much worse films of this type that hit the rental market during this era. I found it quite a lot of fun. It was shot in Seattle, so there is a familiarity for me, having been raised in the Pacific Northwest. I am sort of surprised Arrow picked this up, but I'm glad that they did. If only they could have gotten an interview from Faris on it—I know she met her first husband on this movie, so maybe it's not something she wants to revisit.

Drownsoda, is there enough of the Seattle/Issaquah area shown to make this worth a purchase? That would be my ONLY interest in this film. I'm speaking as a Seattle native.

[HorrorBlu]

Originally Posted by Jobla

Drownsoda, is there enough of the Seattle/Issaquah area shown to make this worth a purchase? That would be my ONLY interest in this film. I'm speaking as a Seattle native.

I actually visited some of the locations a few years back while visiting the area. Whoever did the locations must have been a Twin Peaks fan, because some are Twin Peaks adjacent.

The Triple XXX Rootbeer Drive-In is prominently featured.

The gas station (Fall City Market) where Chloe just misses the hook killing the attendant is literally in the parking lot of The Roadhouse from Twin Peaks.

The bowling alley where the characters hang out is on the main street of Snoqualmie, right across the street from the Railway Museum and Centennial Log, which is featured briefly in the opening credits of Twin Peaks.

[SwaggerJagger]

Met Anna Faris today and had her sign my Blu-ray copy.
She had no idea this was released, she saw it and said “where did you get this??”
I told it was just released on Blu-ray and she said “Am I finally going to make money from it?”

[russweiss1]

Originally Posted by SwaggerJagger

Met Anna Faris today and had her sign my Blu-ray copy.
She had no idea this was released, she saw it and said “where did you get this??”
I told it was just released on Blu-ray and she said “Am I finally going to make money from it?”

That's too bad Arrow didn't contact her for an interview. It seems like she would have been up for it.

[drownsoda]

Originally Posted by Jobla

Drownsoda, is there enough of the Seattle/Issaquah area shown to make this worth a purchase? That would be my ONLY interest in this film. I'm speaking as a Seattle native.

I have been to Seattle a number of times throughout my life, but am frankly not an expert on it or the metro area—however, HorrorBlu beat me to the punch and had more info than I was aware of. There are a number of identifiable locations, including the Triple XXX Drive-In (I Googled it after watching the film and found that it's still in operation). I actually didn't know that they used some of the locations from Twin Peaks—very cool. I grew up in Portland in the late '90s/early 2000s, so the general vibe of the film felt very familiar to me given that the regions look very similar. The Pacific Northwest is an underused region for horror/slashers, I think—there are only a few that come to my mind (Just Before Dawn, Unhinged, and this film).

Originally Posted by SwaggerJagger

Met Anna Faris today and had her sign my Blu-ray copy.
She had no idea this was released, she saw it and said “where did you get this??”
I told it was just released on Blu-ray and she said “Am I finally going to make money from it?”

This is amazing. What were the circumstance in which you met her? I really wish they would have tried to get an interview with her. She seems like a fairly cool person and I'd imagine she might have said yes to an interview request, though often the bigger stars who cut their teeth on films like this aren't interested in talking about them. I would like to think she would've given her thoughts if she'd been contacted—I am guessing Arrow either passed on it thinking it would be too big of an ask, or they tried through agent/management channels with no success.

[SwaggerJagger]

Originally Posted by drownsoda

This is amazing. What were the circumstance in which you met her? I really wish they would have tried to get an interview with her. She seems like a fairly cool person and I'd imagine she might have said yes to an interview request, though often the bigger stars who cut their teeth on films like this aren't interested in talking about them. I would like to think she would've given her thoughts if she'd been contacted—I am guessing Arrow either passed on it thinking it would be too big of an ask, or they tried through agent/management channels with no success.

She was in a celebrity race event, they did a meet & greet after their practice. I’ve met her previously, but have never brought up this film, I didn’t really have time to ask her about it. She was just unaware of the Blu-ray release & just stated she never made money off of it (granted, she was a no-name at the time and it was a straight to vhs film). But I love having a copy signed by her.



I, of course, had her sign the exclusive slipcover that featured her on the cover.

[curtisday]

Can't want to watch this!

[Cherokee Jack]

Fun little movie. The setting and characters are super late nineties but it doesn’t really feel like the typical post-Scream slasher, more like a throwback to late eighties slashers. It’s not meta/tongue in cheek, there’s very little gore but you do get decent T&A. The filmmakers say in the extras that they were going for a fifties approach by not showing the kills, which I suppose makes sense. It doesn’t feel butchered by censors, just intentionally tame.

As for sync issues, I’m gonna put that down to the audio on this being almost amateur quality. The tendency for footsteps to come through more clearly than voices reminded me of several MST3K episodes. And there are a few times where I swear you can hear someone hitting the boom mic. I was able to hear most dialogue fine after cranking up my center channel.

Picture is fine though. Bear in mind that it is super grainy, especially considering when it was made, and there are several scenes inside cars at night that are especially noisy.

[AKORIS]

watched this last night--- it's funny because I live in Washington and didn't recognize any locations in my state!!

The syncing issue I noticed (slightly) during the diner scene but it wasn't bad. I chalked it up to the original dubbing of the movie-- I can't stand dialogue that doesn't match so I would have noticed it if it has been extreme.

While the film wasn't a bloodbath,

[Show spoiler]I did feel that two of the murders late in the film were very gruesome and unpleasant---

I also felt that the

[Show spoiler] "surprise" at the end was thoroughly unbelievable---

Overall a mixed bag slasher flick----

[Resident Evil Labs]

Still have this in my unwatched list, need to fix that

[OceanBlue]

Watched Arrow's Blu-ray release of Lovers Lane last weekend (the version in the widescreen aspect ratio).

The audio earlier in the film I found was muffled (difficult to hear what was being said). The lip-synch issue I didn't notice, but I had forgotten to look/listen out for it. The transfer at times was very dark and hard to tell what was going on, but other times it was very clear (one of the best looking scenes regarding the transfer for me was

[Show spoiler]after the police etc. turned up after the bumping-off scene in the flashback).

Hard to follow what was going on later on in the film with the revelations

[Show spoiler](I would have preferred the explosion scene to have happened at the end),

although strangely at the same time the explanation(s) made some sort of sense.

I liked how some scenes were shot, and a good, varied choice of locations (didn't know about the Twin Peaks locations (something I will look out for the next time I watch this late-nineties slasher).

On the whole, I enjoyed the film.

[MazeRunner]

Originally Posted by SwaggerJagger

Met Anna Faris today and had her sign my Blu-ray copy.
She had no idea this was released, she saw it and said “where did you get this??”
I told it was just released on Blu-ray and she said “Am I finally going to make money from it?”

This is hilarious.

But I finally watched this on MGM+ and it’s awful. Felt like a student film.