Lake of the Dead (Kåre Bergstrøm, 1958)
some gorgeous cinematography here, and it's an interesting murder mystery in which the murder doesn't actually happen until about two thirds through the film. prior to that it's just a mystery! it leaves a little bit of room for supernatural happenings to have influenced events but mostly it comes down to "(a specific) man is the real monster".
i had hopes that the frame story at the beginning (the viewpoint character, who i hesitate to call the protagonist on account of how he does not actually do much of anything, has written a book about his experiences at this haunted cabin, and is going over his final edits with his wife, who was much more important to the story!) would be used interestingly, but it's never actually returned to, so it just serves to say that these two characters made it out alive. there's another flashback as one character recounts an experience she had, and a very cool dream sequence, but overall it's a fairly straightforward and linear narrative, which just did not do it for me.
2/5 stars