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Judging A Film By Its Cover: BLOOD LAKE (1987)

This is bacally a new series I'm starting in which I take a movie with incredible artwork, whether it be on a VHS or a movie poster, and tell whether the film itself lives up to its art or not. Everyone knows that early horror movies had some great poster art, and to me, that was the best way to sell a movie. Sometimes the ploy worked, and sometimes it didn't, like today's case. Despite having some great art (in my opinion), very few people have heard of it, and even fewer people have actually seen it. But did it deserve to be lost, or is it itching for a re-discovery?

Blood Lake 1987 ?t=1326730456 Plot Summary: Several friends head up to one of their friends' lake house to get wasted, get laid, and enjoy the beautiful lake. However, they don't realize that someone wearing terribly mismatched clothes is planning to kill them off one by one for an undisclosed reason.

Why The Art Is Great: This poster is an example of mplicity working in its favor. Instead of just like a black outline of a figure, like on the Final Exam poster, it's actually a three-dimenonal person with shadows just obscuring his face. Surpringly, I find that the goofy hat and the beard work in its favor as well, and they somehow add to the ominous vibe the art gives off. Then there's the dead body in between his feet, the blood popping out while on the yellow boards, the lake being made of blood, and the sky looking like shimmering water with that large moon right next to the killer. There's great color contrast and lots of creepy imagery, making this one truly stand out when compared to other slasher art from the late eighties.

Does The Film Live Up To It? Absolutely not. This film is a SOV (shot-on-video) horror movie, and while there's lots of bad ones, there are also some entertaining ones. Blood Lake is not an entertaining one. It feels like the director was going up to the lake with some friends and when they got there, he just decided to make a little homemade slasher. The only problem is that it takes over an hour for anything mildly exciting to happen! I know many people criticize Iced for that same problem, but with Iced, I found the dialogue between characters fun and cheesy, and the final killing spree was worth the wait, in my opinion. The body count here is four, the kills aren't that bloody, and it's so dark, you can barely tell what's going on.

The movie also has the most annoying character I have ever seen, and that is Li'l Tony, a perverse thirteen-year old who only talks about booze, getting laid, and swearing, with the really irritating thing being that he talks with a heavy Southern accent, like the rest of the cast. The killer's motive is the most absurd thing I have ever heard, and worst of all, this movie is boring. It's slow, dull, and not a good time whatsoever. Surpringly enough, this is one of those "VHS Holy Grails", as VHS copies of this movie go for about $150. Don't bother shelling out that much for it. I wouldn't buy this movie if it was $10! It sucks. Plain and mple. Great art, though.

Well, there you have the first of my series. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you know of a movie that has great artwork but you aren't sure if it's up to par, leave me a request and I'll try to get around to it.

To me that poster just looks like Freddy

vits crystal lake

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thanks for the heads up with the review :) will be sure to give this film a miss, look forward to your next article

Nice one James! I actually was thinking of starting a series likes this too, beat me to it though haha!

I always thought Death Ship had an AMAZING VHS cover... Boy did I judge that one wrong

Nice one James! I actually was thinking of starting a series likes this too, beat me to it though haha!

I always thought Death Ship had an AMAZING VHS cover... Boy did I judge that one wrong I am planning on doing Death Ship because that poster is incredible!