Skeleton Lake

I'm going to keep this very simple. Imagine you have never had a creative idea in your life, so you watch Predator and decide it's so awesome you're going to remake it, except you don't have a monster, a jungle, special effects, actors, soldiers or talent. This is what Battleground is, a poorly hacked together rip off of Predator (with a bit of Hobo with a Shotgun). Scene for scene, line for line, Battleground tries to wear Predator's shoes and what is baffling to me is how so many people involved in the making of this film could have gone along with it. Was this really how the director wanted it? And they actually spent money to make this? Congratualtions, you've made it that much harder for real film makers to get funding.

I believe this is the first positive review I've been motivated to write. I am doing so because there are no other reviews and this low budget flick deserves attention. I'd say it's a clever predator vs. the well-armed and ruthless protagonists, rather than the serial killer vs. the kids camping in the woods kind of movie and it does that well, so if you like that kind of thing, you'll dig it. I'm personally more into brain candy but this was an enjoyable ride.

I'm not a big fan of this kind of premise but this has good writing so it's different with writing, directing, acting, camera work and not the usual number and quality of suspension of disbelief moments that have me bitching at the screen. The beginning drew me in and since the story kept me guessing while I tried to figure out the characters. I surprised myself when I realized I was actually into it.

I see Neil MacKay directed and wrote with Sean McAulay and IMDb has this as Neil's first film, so bravo! I expect this is going to get attention and you'll get money to spend on your next project and hopefully my high expectations for you will prove justified.

Not greatly challenging rolls for the actors but they did good jobs and I saw a promising spark in a few of them. I have criticisms about realism but they are spoilers and gee, this isn't a biography or a documentary, ha. Also, it had a bit of humor to it, which is always a welcome relief for me, after relentless brutality. Gosh, I went on too long. Loved the cigar lighting scene, you'll know which one I mean, had me grinning.

Gosh, that was a lot of praise, hmm, now I feel I deserve a share of that, what was it? 3.2 Million, from the bank heist. Oh well, I got on a roll so I'll count it as a good deed.

Battleground is a movie that has been done before. The only thing is that each of its elements were in different movies (for example: Predator - except that the predator in that was a science-fiction alien and in this he's real)! Basically whilst certainly not a great film of the genre, Battleground is worth the time taken to watch it. Unfortunately, the director fell into the same trap that so many others have succumbed to whereby there is a scene where the predator runs away from three heavily-armed men through the forest. All three are letting loose with machine guns (at least one with one in each hand!) and yet the only person who gets anything like a hit is the cameraman who manages at least three seconds of a clear shot of the fleeing man's back whilst the three pursuers cant even scratch him! As I say, this is nothing new, It happened in several Arnold Scwartzenegger films where several good guys (or vice versa) fire several hundred rounds at the fleeing bad guy (or vice versa) and yet the bad guy, with only a hand gun manages to take out more than one of them over his shoulder. It insults the viewers' intelligence and, in my case anyway, cost some points in my rating of the movie. Other than that though, Battleground is definitely a thriller - although, with just a couple of brief exceptions, not really a horror film - and, as I say, worth the time.

This movie was totally awesome. What is more awesome is that Hugh Lambe is a college professor in real life. This guy is my professor and he never told us he was an actor, he teaches business, he has a few degrees. When I looked him up and saw this it blew my mind! I watched the movie and needless to say it was blew my mind seeing my teacher as "the hunter" in this movie. The movie is like a twist on an evil Rambo that lives in the woods. The movie has great special effects and great directing. Its full of twists and turns, jam packed with action and gore. I can't wait to see the sequel when it comes out with Hugh Lambe starring in it. We need more movies with Hugh Lambe in it.

The movie sucks you in with what looks to be a good story. Later you find out the point is dead people you didn't care about anyway. Had they bothered with a few more shots they could have saved this film.

That's the saddest thing here, with just a little thought this could have been a good film. A few of the characters should have been better developed and provided a back story that made sense.