Sticking with my forest-set, foreign-movie-dubbed-over-in-English theme, I couldn’t pass up this Polish slasher-fest homage to the 80s. And while I’m not usually one for gore–and trust me this one has a very high gore rating–the gore is handled in a kind of “ewww gross but I can’t help laughing” kind of way.
It’s present day, and we know that for sure because a big group of teens has just arrived at a camp to help them break free from their addiction to technologies such as cell phones, gaming, computers, and social media. After being broken into smaller groups, each with a leader, they set off to hike and camp in the woods. We follow one group of five as they get to know each other, and yes, there is the standard lot of: brain, slut, gay person, virgin, and loner. Meanwhile, we also are discovering the story of a nearby mutant superhuman man who had been chained in his mother’s cellar his whole life, feeding on the animals she slaughters for him and feeds him raw. That is, until he manages to escape. Hmmm. Wonder where he can find more fresh meat to feed his unique appetite? As the teens and counselor are picked off one by one in incredibly grotesque yet unique and–wait, did I mention grotesque–ways, we are left to wonder if anyone will be left in the end to post, tweet, or text about what they did on their summer vacation. And great news! Some late twists and turns to the story add not only more chances for the special effects team to work overtime, but also provide the perfect setup for that requirement of all 80s slasher flicks: a sequel (releases 10.27.21)!
- Top Scare: Lakeside
- Heartbeats: 3 out of 5
- Gore Factor: 4 1/2 out of 5
- Scare Factor: 3 1/4 out of 5
- Recommended for: 17 and up