‘Sam’s Lake’ runs dry

A lackluster gloss on the old cabin-in-the-woods routine, Andrew Erin’s wet-brained thriller “Sam’s Lake” drags a group of big-city friends out to a lakeside retreat where they languish by picture-postcard vistas and swap ghost stories around the campfire. One of said stories turns out to be true, specifically the one about the disturbed child who escaped from a mental institution, slaughtered his family and still haunts these woods.

From there, it’s a short wait until the city folk start dropping like flies, which is a relief, since it puts an end to the aimless nattering that substitutes for any semblance of character. Said slaughter is accompanied by a contortion of plot that manages to be both predictable and arbitrary, and only serves to sharpen the smell of desperation.

Originally completed in 2005, “Sam’s Lake” has been gathering dust for years. The mystery is not why it was released now, but why it was released at all. A few of the movie’s actors, notably “The L Word’s” Sandrine Holt, have gone on to minor careers, but nothing that would warrant dislodging this skeleton from its closet.

Fay Masterson, who plays the title role (of Sam, not the lake), can’t have been too eager to have her vacant performance come off the shelf. As the city mouse who lures her friends out to the country death trap, she’s bland enough to make convincing shark-bait, but once she’s called upon to take a more active role in the cat-and-mouse game, she can’t manage more than a faint meow.

-- Sam Adams

“Sam’s Lake.” MPAA rating: R for violence and language. Running time: 1 hour, 26 minutes. At Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500; Laemmle’s Grande 4-Plex, 345 S. Figueroa St., downtown L.A., (213) 617-0268.

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Serbis’ sees life’s slippery slope

Brillante Mendoza’s superb “Serbis” is set in a large movie theater on a busy corner in Angeles City, Pampanga, Philippines. It has fallen into a dilapidated state, and the family that owns it, having already lost two theaters, struggles to keep it open, offering luridly titled adults-only double features.

Mendoza anchors the story on two characters: Mama Flor (Gina Pareno), a beautiful but worn woman of about 60, has become so preoccupied with pressing bigamy charges against her long-departed husband that her daughter Nayda (Jaclyn Jose) has become the family’s linchpin. She, in effect, manages the theater, looks after her small son, steals longing looks at her cousin Ronald (Kristoffer King), the principal projectionist, and runs a makeshift cafe in the lobby.

When Nayda catches an assistant projectionist fooling around with a customer, she tells him that “this is not a whorehouse” and that his behavior is bad for business. But whether she wants to admit it or not, Nayda’s theater is patronized exclusively by young male hustlers and transvestite hookers looking to service johns.

“Serbis” teems with vitality, humor and anguish. Mendoza reveals how poverty erodes values, making morality a complex issue. By the time “Serbis” is over, it is clear that Mendoza is holding up a mirror to life for many in the Philippines today.

-- Kevin Thomas

“Serbis” (Service). MPAA rating: R for sexual content, nudity and language. Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes. In Tagalog with English subtitles. At Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500.