The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond (DVD REVIEW)
The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond
DVD
Review by Kam Williams
Haunted
House Serves as Setting for Old-Fashioned Fright Flick
Ever since the Scream trilogy so
successfully parodied the horror movie genre, few directors have dared to make
a traditional scary movie featuring all the tried and true conventions. But
with The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond, Gabriel Bologna has served up an old-fashioned
fright flick reminiscent of a Vincent Price classic.
First of all, you have the perfect
setting, a spooky Victorian mansion located on a remote island off the coast of
Maine. Then
you factor in the place’s cursed history, since everyone there had perished 80
years before while playing an evil, ritualistic board game.
Today, Beacon
Island has only one inhabitant,
Pete (Robert Patrick), a grizzled geezer who patrols the grounds with his
trusty gun. The curmudgeonly caretaker has reluctantly agreed to let a group of
young people use the house for what they expect to be a fun-filled weekend of
imbibing and carousing.
Each of the nine revelers represents a readily-identifiable
archetype, ranging from the good-natured host (Arcadiy Golubovich) to the
flirtatious tramp flashing her new implants (Mircea Monroe) to a girl in
mourning (Danielle Harris) to the macho jock (Walker Howard) to twin damsels in
distress (Electra and Elise Avellan) to the uninvited party crasher (James
Duval).
Upon their arrival, the naïve guests learn that communication with
the mainland is impossible because there are no cell phone towers for miles
around. Soon thereafter, Anton discovers an ancient board game hidden in the
basement, and they all agree to play it that very evening in front of the
fireplace. Little do they know they are kickstarting a ghastly chain of events
which will have them dying to leave the island, literally and figuratively.
A high attrition, haunted house throwback certain to send chills
up your spine despite trading in all the stock clichés, like the one which has
the black guy dying first.
Excellent (3.5 stars)
Rated R for gore, graphic violence, profanity, drug use, nudity and
sexuality.
In English and
Turkish with subtitles.
Running Time: 93
Minutes
Distributor: Anchor Bay
Entertainment
DVD Extras: Alternate
opening.
To see a trailer for The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond,
visit:
No comments:
Post a Comment