Fever Lake

Yes, if you like to see a superficially nicely shot, and rather decently acted, movie that actually concerns...nothing, this would be an adequate choice. This movie was made for video, and in a strictly technical comparison, it doesn't give you, say, the sense of 80s "cheesiness".

It starts out with a man entering his wife's bedroom with an ax, just like in The Shining. Then the man explains to his son that there's a curse. So far so good.

Thereafter we follow a group of high school kids who are going to a Camp Something, just like in Friday the 13th, and everybody persistently states that everything's "creepy". This statement is indicated, for there's nothing happening on the screen getting the viewer to tremble with fear.

Basically, nothing in particular happens until the last 15 min, when most of the high school kids are haphazardly killed. Well, they had to be, otherwise this wouldn't be labeled a horror flick at all.

Okay, forget what I said in my user-comment for AMITYVILLE: DOLLHOUSE (1996). That movie might fail to impress, but it's stuff like FEVER LAKE that perfectly displays everything that's supposedly wrong with the 90's horror decade. Even Corey Haim and Bo Hopkins could not have saved such a dull and boring, unimaginative and uneventful, clichéd and generic movie without tense, scares and atmosphere. It's still better to not impress than to impress in a very bad way, the latter being what FEVER LAKE is good at.

Technically, it might not be the worst movie ever made. Far from, probably. But it's just so not worthy of anybody's time.

We get a prologue-scene (set in 1940), that had me vaguely remembering the opening-scene from MIRROR MIRROR (1990). Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing, as MIRROR MIRROR isn't really a bad movie. But then FEVER LAKE turns into total boredom for more than an hour, with three teen-couples spending some time in a house at a lake. During that, some pointless Indian mysticism is hinted at (some story about an evil spirit in the lake). Only one kill, by a force unseen in the woods (was that supposed to be a wolf possessed by the Evil Spirit?), which involves nothing more than a girl getting some blood smeared in her face. I have no idea why she had to die, really. Absolutely nothing significant happens, not even something remotely exciting.

The only thing that could have saved this movie, was taking the first 5 minutes long prologue sequence and just glue it onto the last 15 minutes (simply throwing that whole hour in between out of the window, as it is forgettable, useless material). Then you'll have a nice little horror-short, that will pleasantly make not the slightest bit of sense, but still is worth a watch because of some mildly entertaining make-up effects near the end. You could call the short-film "Hide and Seek at Mystic Lake". Why this title? Well, the last 15 minutes begin when the teens foolishly decide to go play hide & seek. Some teens get killed. A gross-looking possessed girl (that's my guess, at least) enters the ring. The Indian makes another cameo appearance to warn the frustrated sheriff. Corey Haim provides a misleading (or should I say "incomprehensible") shock ending. And... "The End". All this in 20 minutes that could actually evoke the impression that this strangely confusing short just might have enough interesting elements to base a good, coherent script on that could be turned into a halfway decent full length feature. But now, we have about 90 minutes of nothing, really.

Some people have described FEVER LAKE as some sort of tedious teen-slasher version of THE SHINING (1980). Really, folks, you're giving this movie way too much credit. It's just a snooze-fest at the lake. And if you, by any chance, just can't resist watching something with Indian mumbo-jumbo in it, then why not THE CELLAR (1989)? There, now you have three movies in this comment (minus THE SHINING, of course) that are infinitely more entertaining than FEVER LAKE. And they're not even good movies. This pretty much sums it up, me thinks.

You knew what you were getting into when you saw the cover, right? No? Caught it on late-night? I'm sorry to hear that...

We can not blame the actors here. No, this is sloppy, horrific, editing and direction. The director it would seem had a hard time coaxing the best from his actors, who, while not overtly talented, could've been motivated and bumped to do better. Sloppy direction combined with useless editing (some of the worst I've seen), wrecked this movie from attaining B-flick status. Still...

This is good for laughs (see the getting pulled over sequence) no doubt about it. From the goofy Indian (played by a white dude), to that mildly retarded wolf, over to the wretched make-up. The script is dreadful...and that's a good thing if you're looking for fun.

I have, believe it or not, seen worse. Just look at any of Feldman's work circa '95.

I don't know...rent it if you are a Haim or Slater fan, or just into awful productions.

Let's put some wrong and offensive assumptions other reviewers have made to rest. Michael Wise may not look like the stereotypical Native American some commenters have in mind, but he is an Indian. According to his LinkedIn page, he has served as the president of both NAFTA and the Native American Caucus EEOC, so I seriously doubt he's a white man. He has also worked as an actor and stroryteller at the Autry Museum of the American West, and has been an active voice for indigenous peoples for years. People should educate themselves about stereotypes instead of accusing others of perpetrating them....not all Indians look like the pictures in your childhood history book. Every review referring to him as a white man should be corrected.

OK, now that that's over with....the talented Mr. Wise must have lost a bet (oops, that just popped out), because this is not a good film in any way, shape, or form. It's slow, boring, terribly acted, and a snooze-there is barely enough slashing to make it a slasher! But seriously, what did you expect? A bit more from Corey Haim, tbh....he should have l been able to act rings around the rest of the young cast. But even he, Bo Hopkins, and a way over the top soundtrack couldn't save this mess. Two stars-it's dreadful.

When Fever Lake came out on video, my family and I rented it, because it was filmed in my home town. The town my father grew up in, and family still lives there. Twin Lakes, Wisconsin is such a small place it's not even a town, it is a village. So we all thought it would be cool, and we recognized a lot of places. "Fever Lake" is actually called "Lake Mary". You might think the movie would be good with Corey Haim and Mario Lopez who played "Slater" on "Saved By The Bell". This movie wasn't bad but it lacked something , and it wasn't the actors. Anyone who has seen the actors portraying other roles know that they can act. All in all, it was cool to see my home town in a movie(I still live 20 minutes away from it). One of the good parts(which it has a few) was the twist ending, sort of like "The Twilight Zone". If you feel like you've seen everything there is rent this movie, when you're in the mood for different cheesy horror movie. I'm not calling it a good or bad flick, because that is for everybody to decide with their own opinions. That's all I gotta say 'bout that. Peace. I'm out.