Wicked Lake Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		0.5
Video		1.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		1.5

Wicked Lake Blu-ray Movie Review

Wicked bad.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 29, 2014

If the behind-the-scenes photos included in this Blu-ray's extras section are telling the truth, there actually was a production crew hard at work on Wicked Lake. The eyeball test, however, says otherwise. Outside of a few gory visual effects that looked as if there was some legitimate effort involved in their creation, Wicked Lake looks and feels as amateurish as they come, as if it were photographed by someone who just stepped out of Best Buy with an HD camera, gathered a few friends (including a quartet of pretty girls willing to bear it all for the camera), cobbled together a script, charged the battery, and went to town. It's a wonder such a shoddy production even made it to Blu-ray, particularly with hundreds of better genre films still MIA on the high definition format. If the idea of cheap thrills, some girl-on-girl kissing, a few naked bodies, and some seen and implied gore mixed up in a largely directionless and ultra, ultra low-budget movie that's only concerned with sex and violence sounds appealing, then Wicked Lake might be worth a spin. Audiences looking for a tighter story or some semblance of production values should look elsewhere.

Welcome to hell.

Story summary? Well, here goes nothing. Four lesbian vampires, following a run-in with a nerdy, "can I touch your breast?" art student named Caleb (Marc Senter) who is shooed away from his moment of glory, take a trip up to the hills for a fun getaway at a secluded cabin. But so much for their time alone with one another and their naked flesh. It turns out they have been followed by Caleb and three of his perverted relatives and a couple of backwoods gas station attendants the girls met along the way. The men, of course, only want to have their way with the ladies. The girls must wait it out until the stroke of midnight if they have any hopes of surviving the night. Meanwhile, a couple of cops are hot on the girls' trail.

It takes well over 20 minutes for the movie to establish even an idea of where it's headed. It drags considerably as it switches from one awkward scene to the next, scenes that in hindsight establish characters and light motivation but are otherwise devoid of much usefulness considering that the movie just winds up as a minor exploitation film with no real reason to even exist beyond splattering some blood and showing some skin. The awkward characters range from a shy, overly self-conscious figure who repeats "so anyways" over and over to an unkempt redneck who furiously masturbates, in the open, when the girls parade through a run down convenience store. There are also a couple of cops who stumble towards the party and who are strangely the most well-developed characters in the movie, though that development admittedly amounts to nothing more than how they know one another.

The movie further feels lessened by long, lingering shots of almost nothing and several scenes that add no discernible value to the movie, from one of the girls waiting outside a gas station bathroom to drawn out segments meant to resemble something out of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre but that just seem to drag rather than raise tension or thicken the atmosphere. The movie is technically devoid of fluidity and pacing. It's choppy and only loosely connected by way of a nearly nonexistent plot line and flat characters who are the epitome of single dimension stand-ins. There's a certain From Dusk Till Dawn vibe lingering around the movie as it heads towards the sudden transformation that takes place here at the stoke of midnight rather than with the sun's setting, but the change in atmosphere and story is wasted on characters on both sides who amount to nothing more than empty vessels filling the frame. the filmmakers seem content to make the audience sympathize with the vampires only because the viewer is granted access to their sexy escapades and nude bodies, not because they're in any way worth caring about. The villains are completely stock backwoods characters who fill a purpose and nothing else. The acting is bland with only Marc Senter as Caleb finding at least some sort of identifiable character vibe in the greater mess the movie makes of its players. There is one scene of some legitimately chilling value featuring the girls discussing dismemberment with a victim, but otherwise this is all just fan service of the lowest common denominator.

Wicked Lake Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wicked Lake looks unsurprisingly terrible on Blu-ray. The cheap production and low quality transfer are apparent in every shot. The image is blown out to the point that daytime skies appear as nothing other than globs of blinding light. Colors are drab and absent any real vitality or authentic appearance. Details are flat and uninspiring, whether human flesh, grasses, or accents around the rustic home. Compression artifacts run rampant, noise is heavy, banding is occasionally evident, jagged edges are seen here and there, and blacks are heavily crushed. In short, this is a wicked transfer and one of the worst on the Blu-ray format.

Wicked Lake Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Wicked Lake's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is at least respectable. Though it frequently lacks real-life transparency, it manages to surprise with a few good little details and directional effects. Music, however, lacks the vigor and authenticity the hard rock tunes demand. It also sounds a little cramped and muddy, but it's not the worst example of music on Blu-ray. Light ambient effects are frequently evident, whether singing birds, lightly passing background traffic, scratchy background radio music, or wind. Shotgun blasts and handgun shots fail to find much vigor or authority. Dialogue is adequately clear and focused up the middle.

Wicked Lake Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Wicked Lake contains an audio commentary track and a hodgepodge of short supplements. Also included in the Blu-ray case is a DVD copy of the film and the Wicked Lake audio CD soundtrack. On may also choose to view the movie with a message from "Uncle Al Jourgensen."

• Living Room Commentary: Director Zach Passero and Actors Robin Sydney, Carlee Baker, and Justin Stone discuss the film from the comforts of a living room.
• We Be the Police: Jake & Ray TV Show Commercial (720p, 1:09): A visually wavy 1980s inspired cop drama commercial.
• More City B!t(#e$: Extended Scenes, Deleted Scenes & Bloopers (720p, 14:13): All of the title features lumped together in a single extra.
• So Anyways (720p, 1:32): A compilation of a character saying "so anyways." Really.
• Tuna Pie Crust: Bloopers & Deleted Scenes (480i, 19:45): More bloopers and deleted scenes under a different heading.
• Wicked Lake Theatrical Trailer (480i, 2:08).
• Wicked Lake Advance Trailer (480i, 2:43).
• Fever Dreams Trailers (480i, 4:33 total runtime): More trailers for cheap Horror films, including Late Fee, The Devil's Hostage, and Flesh for the Beast.
• Shriek Show Trailers (480i, 6:35 total runtime): More trailers for cheap Horror films, including Smash Cut, Scream (no, not that one, unfortunately), Beyond the Darkness, and Bad Biology.
• Wicked Lake Photo Gallery (480i, 5:13): Yes, more than one person made this movie on the back end of the camera, apparently.

Wicked Lake Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Wicked Lake makes Asylum movies look slick and spectacular in comparison. It's largely directionless, little more than an excuse to photograph sex, nudity, and violence. A couple of somewhat creepy scenes not withstanding, this is a total dud of a film, if one can actually call it that, with no redeeming value. Shriek Show's Blu-ray release of Wicked Lake features terrible video, substandard audio, and a decent assortment of extras. Stay far, far away.