Wicked Lake (2008)

Lipstick lesbians Mary (Carlee Baker), Helen (Eryn Joslyn), Jill (Eve Mauro) and Ilene (Robin Sydney) head to a lakeside cabin retreat for some skinny dipping and fun. Little do they know, but a college classmate of one of the girls has followed them and brought his sick and twisted family along for the ride. The family, consisting of the effeminate, unicorn-drawing classmate Caleb (Marc Senter), older brother and leader Palmer (Will Keenan), Grandpa Jim (Frank Birney) and half-idiot brother Fred (Justin Stone), humiliate and abuse the girls until about midnight, when everything changes and the tables get turned…

Meanwhile, cops Jake (Tim Thomerson) and Ray (Michael Esparza) are hot on the trail of some supposed killers…Things sure are about to get messy…

If boobs and blood are your weapon of choice in a horror film, look no further than Wicked Lake to please you! Of course, it has much more to offer than just those two things, like original characters, a unique storyline and plenty of the red stuff! In between the nudity and gore you’ll be treated to quirky characters, which are what made the film work for me. The film opens with the awkward Caleb (played by the fantastic Marc Senter) trying to sketch the naked Ilene (Robin Sydney) in an art class and their strange ensuing conversation after class. After those first scenes you are just hooked! We are further entertained by the over-the-top viciousness of Caleb’s family when they invade the girls’ cabin and the banter between the two cops as they close in on their killers’ location. Other unique characters you’ll encounter on this trip of a movie are a pair of hilarious hillbillies (one played by our good friend Luke Thompson) who nearly steal the show with their short screen time!

Then, of course, are the beautiful girls, who appear mainly in various states of undress throughout the movie. All you guys out there will be drooling over this quadruplet. My only pet peeve with the women characters is that we don’t know much about each individual and the two brunettes of the group (played by Carlee Baker and Eve Mauro) are almost indistinguishable because no time is taken to develop the characters. Still, this doesn’t stop the fact that you’re still rooting for the women the entire time.

It was also smart for writers Chris Sivertson (story) and Adam Rockoff (script) to add the cops into the story. Their part of the plot broke up the overall film and helped with the pacing. It also made for a pretty cool ending! Some people will have a problem with not exactly knowing just what the girls are supposed to be (witches? vampires? werewolves??)…but this didn’t really bother me. What did bother me was that the film could have seriously been trimmed a bit…probably of much of the previously mentioned nudity and makeout scenes (one scene of the four girls making out goes on for about 6 minutes…I’ve even heard from guys that this scene is overly long). These scenes feel like they belong in a sexploitation flick, not in a horror movie…

As for the grue, there is plenty of the red stuff splashed around on-screen. From bashed-in heads to severed penises to brains sucked up through a straw, Wicked Lake has you covered…in blood! The effects seriously look great and are very realistic. I especially loved the sucking-the-brain-through-a-straw scene…one of the most creative death sequences I’ve seen in quite some time!

Wicked Lake is a fun film that still has flaws, especially with finding a balance between its weird vibe and its bloodthirsty nature. At times it felt like an erotic Jean Rollin or Jess Franco film or the original Wicker Man because of its misplaced nekkidness and slightly mystical vibe, but its nastier bits made me recall films such as Last House on the Left and House on the Edge of the Park. It also had many intentionally funny moments, especially featuring Caleb (he does spend most of the movie impaled to a door with a fire poker, but is still alive and able to make the audience giggle). So, to say Wicked Lake is a bit of a hodge-podge, unfocused film would be an understatement…Still, it continually entertained me and sometimes that’s all you can ask for.

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