Bone Lake Review – Vacation Rental Horror House Fun for Everyone | film

IIt’s certainly unusual to see an arrow shot into a bare scrotum up close before the movie’s title, but this is that rare movie. The scrotum in question belongs to a man escaping naked through the woods from an unseen assailant, with an equally naked female companion who also quickly comes to a sticky end. As the opening shots ring out, they’re hitting the spot, as it were.

Then the movie proper starts. A couple arrives at a buggy rental house to find themselves faced with the ultimate millennial nightmare: you’ve spent your hand-earned money on a weekend getaway but find that another couple has also booked it. This is the problem with listings on multiple platforms! Or is there something more sinister going on? (If Shish Kebab doesn’t alert you, another clue lies in the fact that the movie is called Bone Lake, not Airbnb Clash.) Imagine pushing social boundaries in the recent horror film Speak No Evil with characters from White Lotus Season 2 using the setting from Barbarian, and you’ll have a good idea of ​​how much fun all of this is going to be.

It’s not just for committed horror fans: the clever dialogue and likable performances would make Bone Lake a highly watchable suspenseful comedy even if there weren’t any bad elements. The filmmaking process is lively, whether we’re watching a couple whispering lustfully on a bearskin rug or escaping as best they can from a kitchen knife. The casting helps greatly: Maddy Hasson, who looks like Florence Pugh, is sympathetic without being bland, while Alex Roe channels a wonderful Dave Franco crossed with Matthew Lillard’s character-perfect energy. It always feels like the people making this film are having a good time, and while that’s never a guarantee that the audience will too, that’s certainly the case here.