Cabin by the Lake/Return to Cabin by the Lake [DVD]

This one-sided DVD double-feature contains 215 minutes of movie and affords the student of film the opportunity to see the changes a year makes. Judd Nelson, the demented star of both of these twisted tales, grew a bit fleshier by the time it came to shoot the second film; director Po-Chih Leong became hamstrung by a smaller budget, as evidenced by the cheap special effects; and writer David Stephens grew increasingly bold in how far he felt he could take the movie-within-a-movie concept, all the way to making the screenwriting-serial killer the director of his own movie. The full-screen digital transfers are sharp and clear, and the Dolby 2.0 Stereo has a few neat tricks as the soundtrack careens from one channel to the other during dramatic moments. The bad news is that as interesting -- and a bit sick, particularly in the humor -- as Cabin by the Lake is, the producers couldn't capitalize on its success and had to cut significant corners for Return to Cabin by the Lake, as evidenced by the alternating video and film footage. Very often the film image suddenly changes to stark, badly illuminated video within the same scene, usually during an effects sequence, and the result is distracting. Too bad. The disc contains no additional special features.