(Some Spoilers) A bit overcomplicated drama involving a young woman Maggie Dolan, Nena Sofea,coming back to her hometown Hidden Lake from Chicago to look after her badly injured, from a hunting accident, father the towns former sheriff Frank Dolan, Winston Rekert.
We learned right from the start that Maggie, played by Jodelie Ferland as a young girl, was grabbed from behind while she was out in the woods with her dad by this unseen and militia-like, in his combat fatigues, assailant. Forcing Maggie to tell him her name and address the faceless psycho tells Maggie that if she ever tells anyone what happened to her he'll not only come and get her but her entire family! With this on her mind Maggie when she's old enough takes the first plane out of Hidden Lake to get a job in Chicago as a tenant activist.
With the news of her father hospitalized in critical condition Maggie goes back to Hidden Lake and there all the fears of the past came back to haunt her. It turns out that Mr. Dolan's injuries wren't accidental they were on purpose! It's also very evident that the person who shot Frank Dolan may well have been the same one who threatened Maggie some 20 years ago when she was out in the woods with him!
The movie "The Secret of Hidden Lake" has so many secrets in it that you get lost trying to both follow them as well as figure them out. The big secret is of course what was the reason for Frank Dolan getting gunned down and left for dead at the foot of Buck Mountain. The very same place where Maggie was almost abducted by this mysterious psycho some 20 years ago.
Maggie has her hands full in getting the town's new sheriff Native American Sheriff Tillane, Renae Morriseau, to get the ball rolling in finding her father's assailant. All the clues to Frank Dolan's shooting lead to this construction and real estate company called Larango Inc. It was Frank's opposition to Larango's attempts to bulldoze and strip-mine the town of Hidden Lake and it's surrounding countryside that cost the company millions in profits that may well have lead to his shooting.
We and Maggie are put through the ringer in a number of, what seems like, unrelated subplots to who was behind her father's attempted murder. The final results are a bit confusing in that Frank Dolan seems to come back to life, or out of his coma, to advise Maggie to not only who tried to kill him but what was the reason behind it! These ghost-like, even though Frank Dolan was still and very much alive, appearances on Frank Dolan's part had you totally confused to what was happening in the movie!
The revelation to who's behind all these bizarre happenings make the final few minutes of the film even more confusing! We not only get to find out who the perpetrator is but were given this whole verbal and chronological flashback, with a complete cast of characters thrown in, to what had him do what he did and even more confusing who was manipulating him to do it!
Pretty good mystery drama that sadly gets itself entangled in a number of unnecessary sub-plots like the totally unexplained mysterious video tape, that Maggie found,hidden in a lock-box in the the former Sheriff Dolan's office locker. At the end of the movie we have all the people who were in some way responsible, passively as well as actively,in Frank Dolan's shooting come out of the woodwork, or the woods, to explain to both Maggie and the confused audience watching just what were the reasons behind it! It was as if everyone involved in Frank Dolan's shooting were on trial and trying to explain what they both did, with an explanation, or did not do, by not being at the scene of he crime,in gunning Frank Dolan down!
We learned right from the start that Maggie, played by Jodelie Ferland as a young girl, was grabbed from behind while she was out in the woods with her dad by this unseen and militia-like, in his combat fatigues, assailant. Forcing Maggie to tell him her name and address the faceless psycho tells Maggie that if she ever tells anyone what happened to her he'll not only come and get her but her entire family! With this on her mind Maggie when she's old enough takes the first plane out of Hidden Lake to get a job in Chicago as a tenant activist.
With the news of her father hospitalized in critical condition Maggie goes back to Hidden Lake and there all the fears of the past came back to haunt her. It turns out that Mr. Dolan's injuries wren't accidental they were on purpose! It's also very evident that the person who shot Frank Dolan may well have been the same one who threatened Maggie some 20 years ago when she was out in the woods with him!
The movie "The Secret of Hidden Lake" has so many secrets in it that you get lost trying to both follow them as well as figure them out. The big secret is of course what was the reason for Frank Dolan getting gunned down and left for dead at the foot of Buck Mountain. The very same place where Maggie was almost abducted by this mysterious psycho some 20 years ago.
Maggie has her hands full in getting the town's new sheriff Native American Sheriff Tillane, Renae Morriseau, to get the ball rolling in finding her father's assailant. All the clues to Frank Dolan's shooting lead to this construction and real estate company called Larango Inc. It was Frank's opposition to Larango's attempts to bulldoze and strip-mine the town of Hidden Lake and it's surrounding countryside that cost the company millions in profits that may well have lead to his shooting.
We and Maggie are put through the ringer in a number of, what seems like, unrelated subplots to who was behind her father's attempted murder. The final results are a bit confusing in that Frank Dolan seems to come back to life, or out of his coma, to advise Maggie to not only who tried to kill him but what was the reason behind it! These ghost-like, even though Frank Dolan was still and very much alive, appearances on Frank Dolan's part had you totally confused to what was happening in the movie!
The revelation to who's behind all these bizarre happenings make the final few minutes of the film even more confusing! We not only get to find out who the perpetrator is but were given this whole verbal and chronological flashback, with a complete cast of characters thrown in, to what had him do what he did and even more confusing who was manipulating him to do it!
Pretty good mystery drama that sadly gets itself entangled in a number of unnecessary sub-plots like the totally unexplained mysterious video tape, that Maggie found,hidden in a lock-box in the the former Sheriff Dolan's office locker. At the end of the movie we have all the people who were in some way responsible, passively as well as actively,in Frank Dolan's shooting come out of the woodwork, or the woods, to explain to both Maggie and the confused audience watching just what were the reasons behind it! It was as if everyone involved in Frank Dolan's shooting were on trial and trying to explain what they both did, with an explanation, or did not do, by not being at the scene of he crime,in gunning Frank Dolan down!