The Black Waters of Echo's Pond

Watching this in 2024, and it feels like and 80's movie. There is definitely always worse. I didn't give it a 1 because I do like the creativity it's like a thriller meets the game jumanji. I liked how the bored game made you tell your deepest darkest fears, secrets and fantasies. Not a thriller where you scared to look, you're not even going to be on the edge of your seat. It's a thriller genre because the blood, gore and killing. I realized it had the same twins from "Planet Terror" that was definitely a plus. I guess the goat would possess people and not do the dirty work himself, more so just lurking around in mirrors and reflections. As you get closer and closer to the ending, it definitely gets cheesier. Movie had a couple chuckles but overall a general teenage movie were killing starts, and secrets about come out.

I had the honor, I suppose, of seeing this as a convention last year. After a meet and greet with some of the cast and crew, the theater went dark and this movie flickered up on the screen. Roughly 7 minutes in, I turned to my friend and told him every plot twist we were going to see, the order the characters would die in, and how the movie would end. I was about 94% dead-on, and the row behind me started laughing out loud every time one of my predictions came true. The film looked alright and had a decent score, but the characters were not well written and the plot was so by-the-numbers it killed any chance for suspense to build. What we do get is some long slooow character development of several unlikable people and when the horror does kick in, it makes little sense and doesn't seem to fit the tone that led up to it. I hate to say it, because the cast/crew were very supportive and proud of their work, but I've essentially seen this movie before, and seen it done better. The only recommendations I can give are for James Duval and Robert Patrick, both of whom give inspired performances with pretty bare roles.

Nine friends take a holiday at a Victorian home on a private island and uncover a game that when played brings out the worst in each of them. Jealously, greed, hatred, lust, all of the things they keep buried deep inside themselves rise to the surface and come to a boil.

Something went terribly wrong when making this movie. It was written and produced by Sean Clark, one of the greatest human beings in the horror community. It stars James Duval, Danielle Harris and Robert Patrick... that alone should sell it to fans. Even the effects and story are pretty decent.

Despite this, something about it makes the film boring. Probably the directing, but it could be more than that. Duval in some scenes is great and in others makes no effort to act. Were not enough takes shot, or did he not have the heart? Almost as bad, the distributor (Anchor Bay) seemed to have no love for the film. Clark put together a nice package of extras (which he gives away for free) that Anchor Bay turned down. Why? A bad film is a bad film, but some features might have at least explained what happened.

THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO'S POND has a great first half. It sees the usual group of unsuspecting youngsters - fleshed out with actual back stories and characterisation this time around - getting their mitts on a creepy old board game, a game which proceeds to bring out the very worst in these personalities. Soon, the players are turning on each other as past deeds and secrets come to life, and of course it all ends in murder.

The set-up is a neat one and packed with promise. The characters are far more interesting than you'd suspect and there's plenty of humour along the way too. The cast incorporates Robert Patrick (wasted in what is little more than a cameo), the 'Babysitter Twins' from DEATH PROOF & PLANET TERROR (their acting is poor to say the least), and scream queen Danielle Harris (HALLOWEEN 4).

A shame, then, that the second half is so lacklustre. All that set-up sort of melts away in favour of some very typical, completely ordinary stalk-and-slash sequences. Atmosphere disappears in favour of gory mayhem, and yet it's all very familiar and by rote. It's not that THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO'S POND is particularly bad, because it's not; it's just that it's very ordinary, and it shouldn't be given that set-up.

Oh, what could have been created with a better script and direction. Zarathustra for adults(pseudo). This really could have been so scary, but not with this crew. What a waste.