Bone Lake review: The trashy horror youre expecting, but better
With a title like Bone Lake, two possibilities come to mind: The first is that this horror thriller might be set on a lake with a dark past, full of human remains, bones included. The second is that "Bone Lake" is a place to bone — sexually — making it exactly the kind of place where a crazed killer might stalk for prey. And hey, my dude, congrats to you for being right on both counts.
As any horror fan worth their salt might hope, Bone Lake delivers as a trashy thriller about sex and murder. But it's also smarter than its title suggests. And yet, it's still plenty stupid in a terrific way. How? Let's dive in.
What's Bone Lake about?
In two words: vacation friends. You know that phenomenon where you meet total strangers while vacationing and get way more personal with them in a short period than you might have predicted? Maybe it's the warm summer air, the scenic views, the flowing drinks, or the sexy excitement of a getaway weekend. But something pushes you to places risky and unknown on a vacation, for better or deadly.
For Sage (Maddie Hasson) and Diego (Marco Pigossi) that means sharing their rented lake house with a spirited couple who show up unannounced. Not long after Sage and Diego have had vacation sex on a bearskin rug, Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita) appear at the front door with their suitcases in tow. It seems there's been a scheduling screw-up here at Bone Lake. But hey, it's a big house. Why not share?
So begins a slippery slope of social pressure that has Sage and Diego fighting temptation and then for their lives. (This is why more people need to watch Speak No Evil!)
Bone Lake is a gory and graphic horror romp.
Before we meet these lovely and curious couples, Bone Lake kicks off in '90s classic slasher fashion with a grisly cold open killing. In a dense and vibrantly green forest, two completely naked people are running for their lives while holding hands. What's going on is not immediately clear. But then an arrow bolt zings dangerously close. Before the opening title card, these two will die in a grisly and salacious spectacle.
With a particularly nasty bolt shot to the balls, screenwriter Joshua Friedlander sets up an audience expectation for gruesome violence. Yet within this scene of death, these gnarly blows, and even the man's abrupt decision to say "fuck this" and try to flee on his own, reflect a dark sense of humor that director Mercedes Bryce Morgan will masterfully weave through the film.
The opening promises us something unapologetically wild and violent and sexual. And the movie as a whole is so rich in all these illicit thrills that it might have you shouting at the screen as you would with a particularly scandalous episode of reality TV or a brutal pro wrestling match. Bone Lake is happy to stroke our basest interest in blood and boning. And it will have you moaning.
Bone Lake also offers a thoughtful exploration of a relationship in trouble.
There's tension between Sage and Diego as they drive up to the house, and it's because they're in an awkward moment of transition. Diego dreams of becoming a novelist, and freelance journalist Sage has taken a full-time editor job so he can walk away from his professor position and focus on his writing. It's a shift in dynamic that's disrupted their sex life. But Diego's hopeful that the allure of Bone Lake — plus the engagement ring he's planning to propose with — will turn things around for them.
However, when Will and Cin come twirling in, the energy of Coachella bursting from their flawless skin and ravenous eyes, both Sage and Diego bristle with jealousy. On one hand, there's the fear that intimate proximity to these sexy strangers could lead to infidelity. But there's also an envy of these two — so young, so carefree, so in love.
Rather than offering crudely sketched characters, Friedlander's script paints Sage and Diego as a couple who truly understand each other, sharing a similar sense of humor and laughs from their inside jokes. He also explores the ways in which they've failed each other. The unspoken regrets and resentments bubble under the surface as Cin and Will intensify their seduction campaign. But to what end?
Incredibly, as bonkers as this movie gets, the hero couple at its core feels grounded and familiar enough to keep Bone Lake's audience invested — if these two can survive what this vacation brings their way.
Bone Lake's ending will have you screaming.
It's less that Bone Lake is scary and more that it's outrageous. A no-holds-barred fight scene plays out to the sneering sounds of The Exploited's "Sex and Violence." With this song choice, Morgan manages to make us laugh at this life-or-death moment without disengaging us from the stakes of the face-off. Instead, the song seems to illustrate the smug glee of the killer, further infuriating their could-be victim.
Elsewhere, classic slasher tools like axes and chainsaws will come into play. But Bone Lake, for all its indulgences, refuses to treat Sage like a Final Girl cliché. Her defenses will not be the frantic fleeing of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the concentrated self-rescuing of the Scream franchise. Instead, her path is hacked at with swings unpredictable and exciting. Morgan will satisfy slasher fans' bloodlust. But then, true to the smart emotional core of Sage and Diego's story, she'll give us a final beat with a cinematic allusion so unexpected that I screamed with laughter. It's unpredictable and perfect.
Bone Lake is the rare horror movie that relishes in the trashier aspects of the genre, swooning over sordid sex and grisly violence, but also manages to be cheeky and smart. It'll pull you to the edge of your seat and have you cackling, yelling at the screen, and gasping in delicious shock. Hot, horrifying, funny, and surprising, Bone Lake is a total banger.
