Black Creek

A brother and sister take the ashes of their deceased father to the family cabin in the sticks of central Wisconsin, accompanied by four friends. The problem is, there have been some recent deaths in the area, which may be linked to a massacre of Indians in generations past.

"Black Creek" (2017) is a cabin-in-the-woods Indie by writer/director James Crow. While it's listed as costing $3 million, the non-actors and dubious acting make it seem like micro-budget horror in the manner of "Backwoods Bloodbath: Curse of the Black Hodag" (2007), also shot in Wisconsin. Thankfully, the flick delivers the goods for the cabin-in-the-woods genre in practically every other area.

In other words, if you can roll with the questionable actors/acting, it entertains for what it is, a slasher in the wilderness. The story is compelling enough with an antagonist reminiscent of Proteus from Uncanny X-Men 125-128 (1979). In the second half, the effects of how the entity transfers is well-done and creepy.

Also, the flick scores well on the female front with standouts Leah Patrick (Jenna) and Rachel Vedder (Rachel), both blondes.

In addition, there's a superlative track that runs during the credits, "Walked Up To The Devil," by Hale and the Homos, written by Lance Wendlandt.

While this is superior to "Backwoods Bloodbath," it's not quite on the level of another micro-budget slasher shot in Wisconsin, "Blood Harvest" (1987). The actors and acting are better in that one. Obviously, you have to have a taste for spare change flicks to appreciate any of 'em.

The movie runs 1 hours, 20 minutes, and was shot in Eau Claire County and Osseo in the heart of Wisconsin. It has been reported that the bar sequence was done in Black Creek, which is a three-hour drive east of there.

GRADE: C.

Terrible acting. Terrible scenes. Terrible story.

At about 23-24 minutes, the group is walking through a forest. One kid is making a video on his phone or something, and spins the camera around, which fully shows the entire film crew. Boom mic, dolly camera, director and all. Garbage. Never seen a movie be so dumb that it can't even edit out a 10 second scene showing the film crew. They already (OBVIOUSLY) are on camera, so the dolly can in the scene would have made a better shot.

So sat down with this thinking it was a hidden gem. What I saw was terrible acting. It was like they didn't know their lines and stood there until they remebered their lines. It was awful I didn't care for the characters I just kept watching to see the mess of this film.

The girl with the flowers across her forehead was stupid she was one of the worse actresses out of the worse. Hold on the the girls were terrible lol. While watching her I wanted to place that flower band on her head not her forehead looking like a drippy bimbo.

Mr. Fake lip piercing was awful was he meant to be a rebel? And look ard??

Please do not waste your time on this erm mess.

The ending oh my just why? Why did I watch it? I could of done better. Anyways if you want an awful film go ahead and waste your time you will never get back.

This movie is awful from start to finish a part the title brings absolutely nothing to the horror genre, bad acting and worst super annoying characters....shot very amateur, too....

Before the fake reviews hit i am telling you avoid this turd at all cost.

The fact that I had never even heard about this 2017 horror movie titled "Black Creek", when I stumbled upon it here in 2025, hardly mattered given my love of all things horror. So of course I had to check out what writer and director James Crow had to offer.

The storyline in the movie was pretty straightforward, although somewhat on the bland side. So writer James Crow didn't exactly bring the big guns out here. But hey, if you're a lifelong horror fan, then at least there is some comfort and familiarity in the script.

I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, which is actually something that I enjoy when I watch a movie. And I will say that the acting performances in "Black Creek" were adequate.

This was not a movie that made use of a lot of special effects.

Ultimately, "Black Creek" is a watchable movie, sure, but hardly a memorable or outstanding horror experience.

My rating of writer and director James Crow's 2017 movie "Black Creek" lands on a three out of ten stars.