The title Bone Lake gives the game away right off the bat, but what a game it is! Either it’s going to be set in a Camp Crystal Lake-esque killing field where serial killers lurk. Or it’s where horny Gen Zers hang out to…well, bone. Turns out, Mercedes Bryce Morgan’s film is both a sex and relationship thriller and a violent slasher, with plenty of fun to be had no matter what you’re looking for. Buzz has been building for it since premiering at Fantastic Fest last year, and the hype was legit. Like Together earlier in the summer, Bone Lake is the kind of Midnight film that demands to be seen with your friends in a packed theater for the full communal experience.
In the opening moments, we see a naked couple fleeing in the woods from someone with a crossbow. Both are hit, with the guy taking a shaft to the, well, his shaft. It’s a gruesome image, and the two are quickly finished off and displayed like fine art. Turns out, this murderous scene is from the novel being written by Diego (Margo Pigossi), and read to Sage (Maddie Hasson) who calls it “gratuitous.” She’s unimpressed by her longtime partner as a whole right now. He’s leaving his teaching job to give writing his full attention, forcing her to take a job she doesn’t want to keep them afloat. This subtle shift in power comes with a price, and this weekend getaway to a swanky Airbnb lake house is meant to fix the problem. The boring, orgasm-free sex they have on a bearskin rug suggests it’s going to take a lot more than some R&R to repair what’s broken.
So how about some vacation friends? A booking snafu has them sharing the joint with gorgeous L.A. couple Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita), who come flaunting all of their boundless sexual energy that threatens too much of a good time. For Diego and Sage, who are rightly sized up as not exactly spur-of-the-moment types, this not only ruins plans for a clothing optional weekend, but it leaves them feeling anxious for a couple of reasons. For one, there’s a bit of jealousy at the carefree spirit that Will and Cin have about everything. They are sexually open and rather vigorous, the complete opposite to the older duo. But there’s also concern over the possibility of someone cheating, which dredges up a painful memory that Diego and Sage must contend with.
Screenwriter Joshua Friedlander ramps up the sex games in crude fashion, but uses them to explore the cracks in Diego and Sage’s struggling relationship. The discovery of a secret sex dungeon reveals his aversion to sex toys, which highlights his selfishness when it comes to pleasing Sage. It’s not particularly insightful or brilliant stuff that Friedlander is doing, it’s all made to prod our basest reactions and yell at the characters as they make stupid errors of judgement. A masturbation scene with a hidden camera, secrets told and quickly revealed to cause mistrust, possible infidelity, a potential wedding proposal, and other more taboo things swirl around creating a thunderstorm of fear and carnal energy. It’s clear that Will and Cin have a sinister motive, but what the heck for? And if Diego and Sage’s relationship can be broken so easily, is it even worth fighting to save?
Unfortunately, neither Diego nor Sage is interesting enough for us to really care either way. You kind of feel sorry for her, having to carry that harmless loser on her back while he nurtures his unlikely dream. She could do so much better. Even Cin and Will’s psycho motivations come crumbling down in the trashy final act, which spins their relationship in an unnecessarily grotesque direction as the violence ratchets up. The violence is a bloody good time, though, including a really gnarly chainsaw massacre. Between the devious games of kink and the gore, Bone Lake is a ripper of a good time and if it’s a bit gratuitous, so be it.
Bleecker Street releases Bone Lake in theaters October 3rd.
