Lake Bodom (2016)

Sadly Over-hyped

recommended

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

So, Finnish horror movies are rare. A good Finnish horror movie is next to impossible. This movie is faaaar from good. I do know the Lake Bodom story. I have heard about it since I was a little kid, just like every other Finn born after the mysterious mass killing. Why was this movie even referring to Bodom, because the way it forced the Bodom story into it was weak. I am not a fan of Mikael Gabriel, he's a shitty Finnish rapper, but his acting was decent. So was the rest of the cast. But the plot just didn't work. I was hoping for that "oh my god, this is too horrible!""-moment in the movie and that never came. Thank god I didn't spend any movie seeing this on the big screen.

Some modern teens set out to recreate the circumstances surrounding the real life Lake Bodom murders down to every last detail and once and for all figure out exactly how this happened in the first place. Motivations are scattershot - they aren't so much character motivated as plot (the two main guys are apparently not friends, though why they're on a trip together doesn't come up) and the one guy's "vision" for the weekend no one seems to want to go along with.Suffice it to say that killings happen and teens are stalked. There are a fair amount of twists and turns, movies within movies, that make for an engaging experience. Too much exposition and plot mechanics? Probably. But this is fun and solid horror filmmaking.

My Friday the 13th (Part 3d) evening was shattered when I heard a quick plug for this Friday the 13th (Part All) film.Despite the MANY horror concepts Lake Bodom "borrowed" from, this was one of the most strikingly original films I've seen in a while. And it didn't start out that way.The first half was the movie I love to see with a slight twist: Legend has it, a group of teens were brutally assaulted and killed in this particular area deep in the woods and by the Title's edge back in 1960. So, naturally, one curious young male nerd and his horny tattooed friend lure two slasher-friendly BFFs to spend the night at the very spot some 57 years later. As scares and jokes ensure, panic sets in and as in most in-the-woods, killer-on-the-loose films, they get picked off until even I questioned how this was different than the rest of the slasher-in-the-wood subgenre. That is, again, until the half-way point emerges. There comes the boom and boy, let's have some wild fun with many horror subgenre plot-twists.Aside from how I relished in the vines of the story emerging and multiplying, the movie was incredibly shot, well-acted and even had a pretty decent score. Yes, I am aware of at least 4-5 different movies this either stole from or played homage to. Didn't matter. It was fun pointing them out to myself as I watched the action, frights and film unravel. While the movie really opened my eyes to the delight of seeing many of my favorite types of films in one, the near-fantastic movie wasn't quite there. At a far-too-short runtime that might have just barely under- stayed its welcome, it almost felt experimental at points and might have benefited from some additional scenes and a tad more chapters to flesh more out as it, unfortunately, felt like it abruptly ended too soon.That all said, it's a roaring fun ride and if you're like me, a slasher subgenre fan, specifically a Don't-Go-in-the-Woods slasher advocate, you'd probably like this and the directions it takes you.***Final thoughts: (Major Spoilers, for the subgenres I observed. Didn't want to give most of these away in the body as part of the fun was seeing it unfold to guess how many ideas this movie took. But, I gotta get them out of my head and into print. Just be warned: these could be considered major spoilers so stop now and watch the movie first before learning of the subgenres I observed…Okay, here goes: this is part (as stated) Friday the 13th, Tales from the Crypt, The Cabin in the Woods, I Know What You Did Last Summer and definitely, High Tension.)

A film based on a true story that can be told in two sentences, and the plot isn't actually even that much based on it. Basically it's a Finnish "slasher" film that isn't scary in any way.How can that be possible ? In a horror movie the viewer should identify to at least one "victim" character and hope for hes or her (usually her) survival in some way. This movie makes none of the cast feel innocent or likable and twists the plot in so many so unnecessary ways the characters lose all value and become indifferent for the viewer.It feels like the script was just brainstormed together in a single sitting without any work and all focus put into the set, cinematography, sound and music which are all state of art. In some scenes the actors do fine job but very bad in few - losing completely the credibility of the ongoing -panic- situation, although international audiences might not get this. When the movie ends one just feels empty and cheated - it meant nothing and it left nothing to ponder on.These are common faults in modern publicly-funded Finnish cinema where tech, music and cinematography are great but driven with lazy writing and recycled boring cast that appears in about every title. Weren't the soviet days already over ? For those interested in slightly better Finnish slasher horror, Kuutamosonaatti (1988) is something to check out.