What Lies Beneath Bone Lake Isn’t Another Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. Special

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Although Bone Lake is thematically different from Swap, another movie I saw many months ago, the former is more of a thriller and the latter a vampire flick. I won’t say which is better. Both works have their merits. While both lean a little too far into erotic elements, neither is without scandal. Just how far one wants to sit through this work depends on your tolerance for the subject matter. Director Mercedes Bryce Morgan and writer Joshua Friedlander had an idea and explored it with a modest budget to make this isolated cabin-in-the-woods scenario feel genuinely dangerous.

Here, Sage (Maddie Hasson) and Diego (Marco Pigossi) are a couple who could use an escape. Although their relationship seems solid, things get thrown overboard after they arrive at a luxurious, secluded lakeside mansion by Bone Lake for a romantic weekend. Diego also has a novel he should finish, and at some point, he plans to propose. Since Sage has put her career on hold to support him, I suspect something deeper is simmering between them.

The thriller doesn’t click until they meet Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita), who have apparently rented the same Airbnb. They decide to share the space—a terrible idea. As the weekend unfolds, the strangers poke at the cracks in Sage and Diego’s relationship. It’s unwanted, and when the couple realises there’s more to this oddball pair—who feel like Pugsley and Wednesday Addams in disguise—I’ll admit I’m tossing out a red herring so I don’t give away the predictable end.

The horror and madness don’t ramp until later. I at least appreciate the Sam Raimi-inspired climax. Does that mean the dead have risen from the nearby woods? Or why is there a saw? Those are questions I’ll leave readers with, mostly because I didn’t find the buildup all that exciting. But I stayed for the splatter-soaked bloodbath. The use of darkness, quick cuts, and questions of fidelity all land here. Although I would’ve preferred an EC Comics-style Creepshow ending, what’s presented feels anticlimactic.

However, I must ask: is this movie meant to pay homage to Friday the 13th? Probably not, since that franchise explored different ideas, even though writer Victor Miller and director Sean S. Cunningham never claimed their film was a brutal morality play where “sinful” behaviour gets punished. When the “Complicit Victim” trope appears, what’s done here is at least restricted to showing who must survive. After seeing enough films in this slasher genre, it’s tough not to know the outcome early. Had the formula taken a fresher turn, I’d give this work a higher score.

3 Stars out of 5

Bone Lake Trailer