The Black Waters of Echo's Pond (2010)

Fantastic!

A Disappointing Continuation

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

Blistering performances.

I expected the worse, where given some of the outright scorn poured on Gabriel Bologna's independently produced TV style movie, has been quite scary in itself! Truth is, is that it is very much same old same old as regards genre tropes, but it at least does it well enough to not make this a complete waste of time.Set-up is via a prologue that establishes something murky and menacing happened back in Turkey 1927. Forward to the present day and a bunch of horny young adults converge on a cabin and find a mysterious board game that might relieve the tensions. Said game is of course a left over from that Turkey curse thing, a game which brings out all the pent up bile and fantasies that were previously lying dormant in this so called bunch of friends.What transpires is hardly surprising, the group turn on each other - and turn each other on as it happens - where Bologna throws all the "cabin in the woods" staples into the pot. Blood does flow, shrieks do feature, as does ink streaming out of the protagonist's eyes. Robert Patrick is under used as the creepy vodka swigging guardian of "his" island, and much of the youthful cast struggle to impact with conviction.Yet as the thongs and boobs cater for the like minded under sexed, and as the gore (refreshingly not over killed by CGI) keeps on a coming, The Black Waters of Echo's Pond still fills out its run-time with honest horror movie intent. Not one to rush out and grasp with bloody hands, but as late night cable time fillers go it passes muster. 6/10

That's not me being creative, that is the "German" title of the movie. The DVD was just released (2013) and I watched the movie. I have to admit I was a bit surprised that I liked it. It wasn't so much because of the twins (they look good, but are the weakest when it comes to acting, not to say the others are great of course) or the twist(s) the movie has up to the end.It was because of the script and the obvious fun the people involved had. You have one shower scene and everything else you'd expect from a horror movie like that. Robert Patrick even felt he had to produce the movie, not only have a small part in it. It's not great by a long shot, but it's entertaining enough

I was surprised when, after some time with effective atmosphere,a very weird, silly occurrence changed the film's tone. However...1 - When its scary, its actually scary, featuring atmospheric scenes that build tension very well.2 - When its funny, its actually funny, perhaps because of the contrast with the serious scenes, and actually handles the switch very well - usually it takes itself as seriously as any individual scene needs to be, which occasionally resulted what just happened, so perhaps this film isn't for everyone - it's very weird.3 - I was considering actually dropping the rating of any horror film focusing on teenagers - fortunately these ones are fleshed out somewhat, and aren't nearly as annoying as the ones found elsewhere in the genre,

The Black Waters of Echo's Pond (1:31, R) — Fantasy: Supernatural, bargain basement, originalI rate SF&F movies on a scale of 1 (execrable) to 9 (superlative). Not surprisingly, a year's worth of them tends to form a bell-shaped curve, with lots of movies in the middle and hardly any at the extremes. This one is among the rarities — but unfortunately not up there at the Avatar or Dark Knight end of the scale: It's one of the worst movies I've ever seen.Here are the characters: • Rick (James Duval), the generally unwelcome 9th wheel at the party • Kathy (Danielle Harris), whose brother Danny, sporting a "1.8%" blood-alcohol level, had been killed in a car crash while riding with Rick • Robert (M. D. Walton), token Hispanic, a recently promoted loan officer • Trent (Walker Howard), token black guy, a junior loan officer who got Rob his job • Veronique (Mircea Monroe), a flirtatious sex kitten with new boobs • Erica (Elise Avellan), the goody-goody twin • Anton (Arcadiy Golubovich), her curly-haired, accented husband • Renee (Electra Avellan), the more daring twin • Josh (Nick Mennell), her bland and forgettable fianc頕 Pete (Robert Patrick, who also executive produced), the eccentric old guy with the shotgun who owns the island and the lodge on itThe opening 9 minutes supposedly occur in the "Meandros Valley, Turkey, April 1927", as archeologists unearth Omphalos, lost temple of Pan. Among their findings is a map to Pan's lair, Pandemonium, where "demons were entertained by the tortures of the damned". The expedition leader is warned by its financier to bring all the artifacts to him immediately. For some bizarre and unexplained reason, this entails going to Beacon's Isle, Maine. By the time the financier arrives, the archeologists have converted their goodies into a tabletop-sized board game and proceeded to kill each other; the last of them takes out the money guy, then blows his own brains out.Zip ahead to the present day, when 8 college buddies arrive on that self-same island for a weekend getaway, along with mismatched acquaintance Rick, who's evidently done different things to tick off each of the others individually. They discover the game walled up behind some boards in the basement and decide, since the electricity has just gone out, that they may as well try playing it. The 1st Chance card they get ominously suggests "speak thy hurt unspoken", and Trent uses it as an invitation to unload his resentment over Rob's success at their joint workplace.Things deteriorate from there, as old jealousies (and new), misunderstandings, resentments, etc. flare up. Periodically the red-eyed goat head of Pan puts in an appearance in a non- speaking role, for no apparent reason. Sooner or later, each of the young people undergoes a transition in which their eyes turn black, grossly overdone black mascara and lipstick starts running down their faces, and they engage in frenzied homicidal attacks on their erstwhile friends, using rocks, rakes, spear guns, shotguns, knives, cleavers, icepicks, chainsaws, and good old-fashioned thumbs-on-the-windpipe choking. Bad as the plot is, the acting is worse. The make-up is screamingly awful. The very limited effects are abysmal. None of the characters is remotely likable. Despite the prolog, there's nothing about Turkey or ancient mythology in the main storyline, and neither the black waters nor Echo's Pond puts in an appearance. This has all the hallmarks of something slapped together by a drunken committee over a bad weekend.Fun to review, tho.