Lake Clarity | Welcome to Camp Indie Horror.
"Seth: We decided we’d all take a week long trip up to Lake Clarity to celebrate our last summer together. Mike, Ally, Erin, and Brandon have been my best friends since freshman year, and in a few short months we were all heading our separate ways for college. I was planning on staying in Denver, but everyone else was flying far away.
I host a podcast and thought it would be fun to bring some spooky content to my project, and maybe capture some memories in the process. The camp was old, and truthfully I didn’t think we’d find anything at all, aside from maybe some old boy scout stickers, but I was hopeful. Lake Clarity is one of those places that only exists in horror stories. It’s like Crystal Lake. We thought it was just an old summer camp that went out of business, and never got torn down. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Now please take me back to camp! You have no idea what's going on up there! The things we've seen.
Ranger Joan: Seth, you need to tell us what happened to your friends!"
- EP 1 "Campgrounds".
When I first discovered Lake Clarity I was intrigued by what it had to offer. The playful banter of the characters the casualness of the plot and the hint that shit would hit the fan eventually. I also liked that even through it was set at a summer camp that It wasn't a cut and dried slasher flick, (that being said I loved Slasher's Season 2 which was a homage to the full summer death camp thing if your looking for a rec.). Lake Clarity is a simple fun little horror podcast and the cast and dialogue doesn't take itself too seriously. If you are looking for a dark, gritty horror podcast like Small Town Horror or Limetown you are going to be disappointing but if you like teenage dramas with a good splash of horror then your in luck.
You've heard the story before 5 friends go up to an old summer camp before they all leave for college. One by one we are introduced to the main characters. Seth, a deadpan podcaster who's staying at home while the rest of his friends go off to college, Erin, the grumpy "mom" of the group, Brandon, the clown, Ally. the girl-next-door type and the "meme",(whatever that means), and Mike, who's just a straight-up chill bro. The friends do some exploring and for the sake of spoilers shit goes down. That being said here is a list of things that appear: Hotdogs, Padded Rooms, Flare Guns, Mutilated Deer, Blueberry Granola Bars, Shadow People, Blood, Government Documents, and a crowbar named Mr. Sanchez. One of the selling points of the show is its seamless blend between comedy and horror. The characters bicker, pull pranks, and act like any other group of teenagers but when the gloves comes off and things go down the horror doesn't hold back. Some of my favorite moments was Episode 5 "No Clarity, Only Shadows" which gave off strong STH/TBT** vibes and the cabin scene from episode 3 "Deeper Down the Rabbit Hole". I won't get into why these moments where so intense for spoiler reasons but I will say that Lake Clarity uses its horror effectively helping it stand out from the general unease or gloomy atmosphere of other "horror" Podcasts.
To discuss the weaknesses of the podcast I felt it was important to give context to the origin of the podcast. From the creator's own words:
"Lake Clarity first began when I sat down with ten friends and told them I wanted to do an Audio Drama podcast. We had a studio on our campus, I had a computer, and an (admittedly cheesy) script I wrote last summer."
The cast are not professional voice actors. This is not a criticism this is simply a fact one should keep in mind when listening to the podcast. For the most part I enjoyed the voice work but there were definitely moments where the acting fell flat and undermined the intensity of the scenes. A few characters deadpan tone made then perfectly suited for narration but when it came to their more emotional outbursts it was hard for the emotions to be properly conveyed. If you're looking for a slick shiny audio drama with vocal talents in the realm of David Cummings or Jon Grilz this is not the type of podcast. However if you don't mind a podcast thats a little rough around the edges than it's worth the chance.
On the other side of the aural landscape is sound design which for Obadiah's debut Audio Drama is surprisingly good. When Lake Clarity first came out it was touted for its fantastic sound design and while I can't say that it is as complex and immersive as other recent soundscape juggernauts, (Namely Gimlet's "Sandra" and Paragon Collective's "The Darkest Night" ), it holds water when it comes to audio verisimilitude. Lake Clarity utilizes a mild "Found Footage" aspect in its storytelling with the majority of the action told through audio recordings. Lo-Fi effects such as popping and static are intermixed giving a weight to the recorder, (in the same way that found footage movies see the camera as an object). In terms of foley work that audio is fantastic while not reaching the virtuoso level of recent high polished audio dramas it's still head and shoulders above your average audio drama in terms of immersion and production.
Lake Clarity is a satisfying little gem if your looking for a fun podcast that doesn't take itself too seriously. A fun albiet amataur cast, snappy dialogue, and some great horror scenes bring together a campy indie horror story that you'd be amiss to miss.
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*I was unable to find a written cast list either on the website, the social medias, or in the scripts. The names listed are from the ending credits of the episode. they are spelt phonetically and may not be completely correct.
** Small Town Horror/The Black Tapes
In other news I wanted to mention that Jon Grilz has done some work with Midnight Disease and Pacific Obediah worked as a sound editor on some of the episodes of Creepy. Doesn't have anything to do with the show I just thought that it was some interesting industry scuttlebutt.
Also speaking of places in forests, Oregon is on fire if you can and would like to help a compiled a list of resources to donate to.
https://www.thecut.com/2020/09/how-to-help-california-oregon-and-washington-fire-victims.html
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/09/oregon-wildfires-how-you-can-help-victims.html
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