Every town has its own urban legend. The kind where bored high school kids dare each other to investigate its validity while getting drunk out in the middle of nowhere. Most are based on some type of pertinent fact (usually a real-life crime or accident), and then blown out of proportion to include vengeful spirits or curses, or in some cases, a mixture of both. Whether you believe in these tales or not, the fact remains that they are a quintessential part of growing up in a small town. Lantern’s Lane appears as though it will lean into this sentiment, stating that “some legends are real,” but is ultimately uninspired. 

Written and Directed by Justin LaReau, it stars Brooke Butler as Layla, a recent college grad who has returned to her small hometown for an unexplained visit. Right away, you get the sense that Layla is uncomfortable to be there, as we see her venture into the local dive bar where old friend Missy (Ashley Doris) works. They exchange an awkward greeting, and from there, the movie takes its time to emphasize the unease felt between these two. It’s clear that this is where everyone in town goes to hang out on a Friday night, because conveniently, Layla comes across virtually everyone from her old high school life. As the evening progresses, we are accosted with the overt awkwardness between everyone with several prolonged scenes of stiff dialogue and unnecessarily long and uncomfortable pauses in conversation. 

We are thankfully relieved of this when a few of Layla’s old high school chums suggest reliving the good old days by paying a visit to Lantern’s Lane – a remote location where teens would hang out to drink and scare each other. According to local legend, there is a spot where the ghostly apparition of an old woman can be seen floating across the road carrying a lantern, looking for her long lost husband. When they finally convince a reluctant Layla to go out there, you’re under the impression, based on the set-up thus far, that this is about to be a supernatural thriller between this group of late twenty-somethings and an ethereal lantern-wielding spirit. 

The group does indeed encounter scares soon after they arrive at Lantern’s Lane, but there are so many red herrings one right after the other, that it’s easy to lose trust in not only the direction the movie is going, but also if there will be any genuine scares. There are valiant attempts to harken back to the classic horror plot devices seen in movies decades prior, but this falls miserably flat, and instead provides us with characters making every trope-y bad decision in the book.

A real and true threat does ultimately show up, but it’s not until over an hour into the 90 minute movie. By then, you have been put through so much passive aggressive bickering and lifeless dialogue between the characters, that it’s impossible to care enough about any of them to feel any sort of suspense. The actors themselves aren’t necessarily bad, and it’s easy to tell that they are doing their best with the lines and direction that are given to them. With different writing, they would probably be able to carry the movie with greater ease. 

Lantern’s Lane tries hard to be part Urban Legend and part Friday the 13th, but takes so long to get there that the payoff they are going for falls completely flat. The premise itself shows promise, but in the end, is too predictable and sluggish to provide any true scares.

4 out of 10