Movie

The People Across the Lake

1988 · 99 min

A slow-burning TV thriller that mixes small-town unease with darkly comic touches, keeping you mildly tense without demanding much.

Directed by: Arthur Allan Seidelman
Genres: Horror, Tv movie, Thriller
Starring: Valerie Harper, Gerald McRaney, Barry Corbin

Overview: In an effort to get away from the city and all its crime, Chuck Yoman and his family move to a big old house in a peaceful lakeside town. The discovery of a mutilated corpse in the lake and another body in the woods, however, suggests that the Yomans would have been safer if they had stayed put...

Your rating is saved. See your suggestions, or find titles like this one below.

Rate it, and Mesmero finds titles that feel like it. You do not need an account.

Search YouTube for a trailer

Add to a list: The People Across the Lake

In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.

Directed by: Arthur Allan Seidelman
Genres: Horror, Tv movie, Thriller
Starring: Valerie Harper, Gerald McRaney, Barry Corbin

In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: tensestrength 2 of 3
eeriestrength 2 of 3
darkstrength 1 of 3
satiricalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: easy-watch, 2 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: isolation
deception
family
survival
crime
Places: small town
countryside
home
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: single location
Content intensity: Gore mild
Language mild
Violence mild
Sex mild

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	3
Horror	5
Humour	3
Realism	7
Romance	2
Tension	6
Darkness	6
Complexity	4
Emotional weight	4

Titles like The People Across the Lake

Movie

Halloween

1978

A slow, creeping dread builds through quiet suburban streets and long shadows, making you scan every frame for the shape standing just out of sight.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and family

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
family
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 91 min

Details

HalloweenHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

No Escape Room

2018

A tense, claustrophobic puzzle-box that keeps you scanning for clues while a creeping dread builds behind the locked doors.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and deception · single location

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
deception
single location
Pacing: brisk
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 86 min

Details

No Escape RoomHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Deep in the Darkness

2014

A slow-building small-town horror that wraps you in creeping dread and the unease of hidden neighbours.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and deception

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
deception
Pacing: measured
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 100 min

Details

Deep in the DarknessHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Don't Leave the Kids Alone

2026

A slow-building domestic nightmare that turns innocent play into suffocating dread, keeping you tense and uneasy throughout.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and family · single location

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
family
single location
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 97 min

Details

Don't Leave the Kids AloneHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Stepfather

1987

A slow-burning, quietly tense psychological thriller that makes you uneasy about the smiling man next door.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and deception

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
deception
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 89 min

Details

The StepfatherHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Metamorphosis

2019

A suffocating, faith-haunted home invasion by something wearing familiar faces, keeping you tense and uneasy throughout.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and deception · single location

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
deception
single location
Pacing: measured
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 113 min

Details

MetamorphosisHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Wrong Real Estate Agent

2021

A familiar TV-movie chiller that coasts on creeping unease and jumpy noises rather than real scares.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and deception

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
deception
Pacing: measured
Attention: easy-watch
Runtime: 85 min

Details

The Wrong Real Estate AgentHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Devil's Gate

2018

A slow-burning, claustrophobic rural mystery that tightens into eerie supernatural horror, keeping you uneasy and guessing.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and deception · single location

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
deception
single location
Pacing: measured
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 94 min

Details

Devil's GateHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Strays

1991

A cheesy, slow-building creature feature that makes you side-eye your own cat, with tame scares and a straight-faced B-movie charm.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and family · single location

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
family
single location
Pacing: measured
Attention: easy-watch
Runtime: 83 min

Details

StraysHidden from your suggestions.

TV series

Nocturne

2026

A slow-burning, nerve-jangling puzzle that keeps you leaning in, with a chilly small-town atmosphere and a constant sense of dread.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and deception

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
deception
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Seasons: 1

Details

NocturneHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Seventh Day

2026

A slow-building small-town horror that wraps you in quiet unease before tightening into something unsettling.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and deception · single location

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
deception
single location
Pacing: measured
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 96 min

Details

The Seventh DayHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Hollow Child

2018

A chilly, slow-creeping unease settles in as a lonely girl's mistake curdles into something quietly wrong at home.

Tense, eerie · about isolation and family

Via: tense
eerie
isolation
family
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 92 min

Details

The Hollow ChildHidden from your suggestions.

Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres: horror, tv movie, thriller
Directed by: Arthur Allan Seidelman
Written by: Dalene Young
Starring: Valerie Harper, Gerald McRaney, Barry Corbin, Tammy Lauren, Daryl Anderson, Jeff Kizer, Gary Bisig, Gregory Togel
Music: Dana Kaproff
Cinematography: Richard Leiterman
Runtime: 99 min
Country: Canada, United States of America
Languages: English

TMDB IMDb Letterboxd Wikidata

Something wrong on this page? Tell us.

The People Across the Lake

How it feels

More like this

Titles like The People Across the Lake

Where to watch in the UK

Details