Blood Lake — Blood Lake(DVD)

On the surface & from its plot description of ‘horny Teens going to a lake location to be stalked by a killer’, Blood Lake may seem like your run-of-the-mill 80’s slasher. But in  reality there’s nothing run-of-the-mill, or normal about this slice of SOV madness- like the best of the genre, it drops you in an almost parallel bad-movie universe- where we find mumbling mulleted teens, extremely stilted acting, way over-long shots of water skiing,  extreme fleeting & to darkly shot gore, and general bad pacing- which often makes the whole thing as a lost family VHS from the 80’s- all soundtrack by a decidedly haphazard blend of wonky Hair metal, mawkish piano & synth wonders, and more pulsing-though-very monotonous horror focused synth ‘n’ beats.  Here from AGFA  & Bleeding Skull is a much needed new region free DVD of this Brain melting SOV classic- which features a new print, a directors commentary, and a few neat extras.

Released in 1987 Blood Lake is the one & only directorial credit from Tim Boggs- who later went onto to work in the sound department of various US TV shows, racking up since the late ’80s nearing 100 credits. It’s fair & honest to say that Blood Lake is very much a group teen friends trying to mimic/ make a slasher, and really failing way, way off the mark.  As there’s zero tension or suspense, the gory deaths come late, & really as there badly filmed in the dark you can barely see anything, the middle-aged & fairly tubby cowboy boot wearing killer is completely un-treating, and the characters are so vague drawn you really feel nothing when/ if they get slashed. So if your after a long lost 80’s slasher- then you’ll be highly disappointed, frustrated, and very possible bored by what we have here.

If you’re a fan of either SOV or bad/ low budget 1980’s fare- I’m sure you’ll have heard of, or be aware of Blood Lake. The film begins with hapless group of six or so teen friends making  their way to the Lake for a three days water skiing, beer drinking, and coin flipping- and from the off you know your in for something decidedly bad- as the opening credits feature the painful long montage of the group in their open-top car driving through bland countryside- all backed by a truly atrocious example of whiny & wonky 80’s hair metal. When finally they arrive we get more bad pacing, mumbled & uninteresting( but unintentionally amusing) dialogue- most of the male cast look almost identical with their mullet, or near mullet haircut & southern accents, and the female cast have big perms. The big stand out character who has the most memorable & ultimately unconformable moments is Lil Tony- a pre-teen of around 11/ 12 who is constantly making leering & crude comments about sleeping with one of the groups, a pre-teen girl- really he features in some truly toe-curling & cringe-inducing moments ever put to film.

As we move through the film we get very lengthy & seemingly pointless shots of the group doing bad water ski, over yet more bad hair metal. Brown hazed stalking footage with repetitive synth & beat soundtracking- that often doesn't result in killing or any tension. Lots of inane chatter, which moves between vaguely amusing to bland, and the longest & most uneventfully game of quarters ever played/ filmed. You really do feel like you’ve been dropped into another nightmarish parallel 1980’s- with, at times the films hour & twenty minutes feeling easily twice that length. As bad movies go Blood Lake really takes things to new levels of torturous- which depending on one's mood/ mindset- can be either mid altering amusing, or extremely trying. 

Moving onto this new reissue- and the print, as it’s an SOV film from the ’80s, is never going to be great- and still at nighttime, when most of the gore/killing occurs you have difficult making out what's going on- but otherwise it’s a passable enough new scan. Moving onto the extras- and first up we get a commentary track bringing together director Tim Bogg, with  Annie Choi and Joseph A. Ziemba from Bleeding Skull/ AGFA- this is a most chatty, often amusing, and informative track with Bogg’s really telling you ever wanted to know about this SOV classic- going from how he about the films producer first met, location shooting, the soundtrack of the film, it’s great poster work, and it’s initial distribution which saw the film drop in US VHS shops in the ’80s. Next, on the extra front, we get an around twenty films intro/ and after film Q&A with the director & producer when the film played at last years Fantastic Fest. We get a fourteen minute short from Bogg’s entitled Ashes- this is clearly the 80’s and is a fairly amusing & surreal short- that sees a man trying to stop smoking again, and his last cigarette coming to life & more odd-dream strangeness. Lastly we get a never seen trailer from the film back in the day- and basically this sees a series of the film shots tagged together- it’s not great, but certainly, interesting to see.

Really if you’re a fan of 80’s SOV or low budget cinematic ineptness then you know you’ve got to pick up Blood Lake- and hats off to AGFA  & Bleeding Skull for bringing back this madding SOV classic back into print once more.