The Lost is a novel written by Jack Ketchum. It was later made into a film written and directed by Chris Sivertson and starring Marc Senter.
It was the summer of 1965. Ray, Tim, and Jennifer were just three teenage friends hanging out in the campgrounds, drinking a little. But Tim and Jennifer didn’t know what their friend Ray had in mind. And if they’d known, they wouldn’t have thought he was serious. Then they saw what he did to the two girls at the neighboring campsite―and knew he was dead serious.
Four years later, the sixties were drawing to a close. No one ever charged Ray with the murders in the campgrounds, but there was one cop determined to make him pay. Ray figured he was in the clear. Tim and Jennifer thought the worst was behind them, that the horrors were all in the past. They were wrong. The worst was yet to come.
The film and novel contain examples of:
- Adapted Out: The Cat, later named Gimpy, does not appear in the film.
- The Casanova: Ray is this to an extent. He doesn't take rejection too well when it happens, though.
- Creator Cameo: Ketchum appears as a bartender in the film.
- Gone Horribly Right: The two police officers, Charlie and Ed, attempt to provoke Ray to rattle his cage and get him to slip up. It works.
- Faux Affably Evil: Ray is charismatic but a lot of it is calculated on his part.
- Greaser Delinquents: Ray styles himself after one of these.
- Karmic Rape: Ray's fate in prison is depicted as being this. It's also implied his rapist has an STD that will be passed along to Ray.
- May–December Romance: Ed Anderson is having a fling with Sally Richmond, a girl just out of high school.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Ray murders two women because he assumes they are lesbians.
- Prison Rape: In the novel. Ray goes to prison thinking that, as serial murderer, he'll be left alone. As he mainly killed teenage girls, he instead becomes someone's 'bitch' in prison.
- Setting Update: The novel is a Period Piece taking place at the end of the sixties. The film takes place in the modern day.
- Smash to Black: The film ends this way during the climax and omits the epilogue.
- Spree Killer: Ray Pye is more this than a serial killer; after killing the two women, he doesn't kill for four years until he is pushed to the edge.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Ray Pye is based off serial killer Charles Schmid; Pye's use of crushed beer cans in his feet to make him appear taller and makeup to create a fake mole come from Schmid. The opening scene in which two women are murdered for being lesbians was also based off a real incident.
- Villain Protagonist: Most of the story is told from Ray's perspective.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The novel has a final chapter that shows where all the surviving characters end up.
