Cabin By The Lake

Stanley Caldwell (Judd Nelson) is a successful Hollywood screenwriter living in a small lakeside moviemakers' colony. His agent is on his case to finish his current project about a serial killer who kidnaps and drowns beautiful young women and then tethers their bodies to the bottom of a lake in an underwater "garden of flesh." Stanley jokes that he hasn't had time to finish writing the script because he's busy "doing research."

Stanley's cabin by the lake may look normal from the outside, but the inside includes a secret, windowless room containing only an old mattress, a sink, a toilet, and a two-way mirror. Chained by her ankle to the cold cement floor, a young girl fears for her life as Stanley brings her some food and then makes her change into a set of freshly laundered clothes. Later that night, he takes the blindfolded and terrified girl out on his boat, ties a concrete block to her ankles, and throws her over the side to her death.

Afterwards, Stanley heads over to the Creature Barn, a workshop where latex models are created for feature films. He is there for "movie night," when he gets together with the local sheriff's detective Boone (Michael Weatherly) and some of the Creature Barn artists to watch cheesy teenage horror flicks. Stanley cynically jokes that he's late because he had to "drop someone off on the way over."

The next day, Stanley takes his boat out and dons his scuba gear. He dives into the lake and carefully begins to search for the young girl's corpse. Once he finds it, he tows the body to his underwater "garden of flesh" to be near his other unfortunate young victims. Stanley meticulously plays with their hair and picks off leaves and vegetation that have accumulated on the corpses.

Ready to find his next young victim, Stanley then heads to the local movie theater. At the popcorn counter, he overhears Mallory (Hedy Burress) having a conversation with a friend about her tremendous fear of water. Stanley decides she will be the perfect catch and he waits for her to leave the theater. After staging a car accident with Mallory, he quickly grabs her, throws her into his van, and brings her to his "cell" in the cabin.

Her disappearance is quickly noticed, and at the sheriff's station, a frustrated Boone soon places Mallory's "missing person" sign next to a growing list of bulletins about young women who have mysteriously disappeared from the normally quiet lakeside community.

Mallory's feisty personality excites Stanley as they banter back and forth. She is determined to escape, but Stanley eventually manages to live out his fantasy of feeding, cleaning, and blindfolding her, and takes her out on his boat and throws her overboard. Fortunately for Mallory, Boone and his Creature Barn friends are out for a midnight dive scouting locations for Stanley's script, and they discover the horrific underwater garden. When they spot the still-alive Mallory, they immediately help her reach the surface as quickly as possible. Mallory becomes indebted to Boone for saving her life, and they begin to fall in love.

Now the chase is on, as Stanley discovers his latest victim has escaped and the police try and piece together the clues from Mallory's story. Everyone's lives are in danger as Stanley does everything in his power to keep his true sordid identity a secret...