Needless to say, deliberately titling your film Bone Lake will automatically trigger suggestive connotations about the film’s potential content. Will the feature consist of a lake of bones, perhaps a makeshift aquatic burial ground secluded somewhere in the woods? Or does the title refer to a notorious hot spot, utilized for carnal knowledge? A sense of urgency and clarification is immediately established in the opening moments of the film, in which a nude couple are seen running through the woods, fighting like hell to stay alive and outrun an unknown assailant armed with a crossbow, who eventually kills them both in brutal fashion — we’re even treated to a gruesome close-up of the man’s scrotum being punctured by an arrow — and then stages their corpses like a Renaissance painting. Cut to: our protagonists proper, driving through what is presumably the same wooded area, listening to a song on the radio called “Sex and Violence.” It’s certainly an attention-grabbing opener, though director Mercedes Bryce Morgan (Spoonful of Sugar) and screenwriter Joshua Friedlander are not setting out to make a slasher. Bone Lake’s modus operandi is instead more psychological in nature, crafting an erotic thriller that revels in deceit and paranoia. While the film’s conclusion is ultimately more conventional in nature that what precedes it, Bone Lake deserves credit for at least twisting genre expectations along the way, offering a slow burn that’s compelling to sit through.
The aforementioned vacationing couple are Sage (Maddie Hasson) and Diego (Marco Pigossi), lovers seeking an intimate getaway at a lakeside manor. Sage is about to embark on a new career, while Diego has plans to propose, sneaking in an engagement ring with their luggage. The pair make love upon arriving, but it’s immediately apparent the relationship is not at full strength, finding Diego unable to satisfy Sage, while the two share an awkward chemistry that does not suggest something long term. Just as they begin settling in, they make the unfortunate discovery that the rental property has been double-booked by another couple, Cin (Andra Nechita) and Will (Alex Roe). Unwilling to ruin the others’ plans, both parties agree to cohabitate in the elaborate mansion, even taking up Will’s offer as a chef to prepare meals for the foursome. As the weekend commences in proper and copious amounts of liquor diminish all inhibitions, Sage and Diego quickly sense something might be rotten in Denmark, as the gargantuan lake house has more secrets than anticipated, and the overly inquisitive Cin and Will might know more than they’re initially letting on.
Running 94 minutes and secluded to these four main characters in a single location, it naturally does not take long for the oddities of Bone Lake to begin. Cin is the first to strike, inviting a hapless Diego into her room right as she’s just stepped out of the shower, asking the weak-willed man to assist with getting her a pair of underwear. It’s the first of several acts of manipulation and seduction, prying apart at the already wounded couple, with Sage taking to masturbating in the bathtub following intercourse with Diego, who secretly witnesses this and grows disappointed that he’s not a more gratifying lover to his partner. Economic strife has hit the couple as well, as Sage essentially upended her entire life to support Diego’s dreams of becoming a writer, which has not been paying as well as he’d hoped. Sage and Diego’s relationship is already severely fractured by the time we meet them, an issue exacerbated by the presence of Cin and Will, a more sexual and forward couple who both seem to know how to chip away at the other couple’s insecurities, with Will even going so far as to ruin Diego’s proposal plans by taking the ring and publicly proposing to Cin himself, humiliating Diego in the process. Friedlander’s screenplay doles out plenty of moments of psychological gamesmanship, while Morgan handily ratchets up the tension, keeping all characters on edge in this isolated resort.
Not helping to soothe matters is the house itself, where a night of heavy drinking is followed by impromptu exploring, finding all four vacationers breaking and entering the mansion’s various locked rooms. There’s a sex dungeon, a room with a Ouija board, and another filled with newspaper clippings of multiple disappearances in the area, suggesting an external force that threatens to put a damper on the proceedings. Morgan and Friedlander are clearly having a ball keeping their secrets guarded until the final act, where all hell breaks loose and a bloodbath ensues. To say more would be to give away the game, though one does suffer the impression that the preceding hour-plus of deliberate chills and suspicion makes way for something far more typical in sum. Still, genre enthusiasts are likely to be pleased with the visceral thrills that close things out, ending the film on a properly gory note. Bone Lake emerges as a pleasant horror surprise, though one that is undeniably stronger during its ritualistic disemboweling of a couple’s frayed relationship than when the bloodshed actually arrives.
DIRECTOR: Mercedes Bryce Morgan; CAST: Maddie Hasson, Marco Pigossi, Alex Roe, Andra Nechita; DISTRIBUTOR: Bleecker Street; IN THEATERS: October 3; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 34 min.
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