Usually I’m highly critical of horror films that exist for the sake of existing and bring nothing new to the table in terms of story. As genre fans, we’ve seen the same stories recycled over and over again. We need some originality in our viewing choices, especially when it comes to slasher films. Crazy Lake is a typical slasher flick involving college age kids going to a cabin in the woods for a week of relaxation, only to be butchered by a machete wielding psychopath. It’s nothing new or surprising when it comes to content except for interesting character dynamics and a few mild twists. I was ready to write this one off as a snoozefest, but you know what? Oddly enough, I found myself loving the Hell out of it. It’s a guilty pleasure, romp in the woods, splatterfest and the perfect way to start the 2017 Halloween season. It’s not going to be the most talked about release this October, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t find it entertaining as Hell!
The biggest quality that Crazy Lake possesses that absolutely blew me away is exquisite and breathtaking cinematography highlighted by colorful and vibrant production design. I’d like to give director of photography Brandon Hyde a ton of acknowledgement for making Crazy Lake a beautiful, artistic experience that closely mirrors the brilliance of The Final Girls. Honestly, the majority of my notes in regards to this movie are specific shots that I thought were A-grade material. The opening shot that I dubbed as Cabin in the Lake meets Friday the 13th. The opening kill crawling away from the fire pit. One of the supporting cast looking for a bathroom spot in the woods. The list goes on and on, and I don’t want to name all of them for fear of spoiling specific plot points, but the fact remains that Brandon Hyde really knows how to shoot a scene like a Hollywood professional. The look and style he used to film Crazy Lake instantly puts it a step or two ahead of the upcoming competition in its release category.
Crazy Lake stars Skyler Joy, Marco DelVecchio, Diana Riley, Matthew Valena, Libby Blanton, Graham Hunt, Keily Fernandez, Marvin Laviolette, Allis Bodziak, Caulin Donaldson, Leyla Lawrence and Ashley Allen as the college age kids who will be used as canon fodder to drive this movie from start to finish. Most of them are marginally enjoyable, though most of them are also stereotypical horror film archetypes. The jock. The nerd. The whore. I have to say that I didn’t feel emotionally connected to any of them, so when the good ol’ hacking and slashing began, I was rooting for the killer more than the helpless vacationers. And why were they all so hot? The same can be said for Tom Latimer (WWE NXT, TNA Wrestling), Rob Mello (Happy Death Day) and Michael Ray Davis (“Walker Texas Ranger”). They were welcomed additions to the cast, but their characters were so etched in stone that they didn’t have any wiggle room to be anymore than a traditional slasher flick staple. A lot of them were still alive and kicking with only 30 minutes left in the movie and that paved the way for a bloodbath that definitely brought the gore!
I do have to mention that Crazy Lake has a prolonged period of talking, a real lull in the established scary atmosphere. Instead of spilled guts and screaming, we get party sequences, character drama, family bonding and funny shenanigans. That’s all well and good if this were any other genre of movie, but people will be looking to this for horror, obviously. When that horror happens, it’s mostly predicable and filled with all the common cliches. Dead car batteries. Leaving the cell phones in odd places. Characters splitting up. Characters falling. It’s all recycled plot elements, but it just felt… so Halloween that I didn’t mind this time around. If I watched Crazy Lake any other season, I probably would have massacred it, but it fits in so well for this time of the year. The killer’s simple motive of kids trespassing on his property was easy enough for me to swallow and sometimes simplicity is key. Not having to sleuth for answers allowed me to sit back and take in the action – or lack there of – on screen.
And there were smaller bits that I smiled at, too. Crazy Lake has a high amount of nudity and sexuality as well as a high body count. The movie has a tent that’s colored like a Pokeball (I’m a huge nerd…). I was impressed that the ditsy blonde, out of all of them, was the first one to quite literally take a stab at the killer. I was thrilled that the end of the movie leads up to an enthusiastic survival girl vs madman style climax. Crazy Lake is written and directed by Jason Henne with co-director Chris Leto. It was produced by Michael Brown with executive producers Todd Yonteck and Victor Young. Sure, it lacks certain over the top elements and it gets a little boring in the middle. But, the sexuality, the violence and special effects, and the stunning cinematography save it from being a disaster and put it into the realm of slightly above average slasher flick. Maybe it’ll end up as a sleeper hit, and only time will tell as it becomes available on DVD and VOD October 3, 2017. I’d say check it out, though I’d definitely recommend you watch it with a group of friends and some alcohol. Final Score: 7 out of 10.
