Sam's Lake (2005)

There wasn't anything profound here, but the refreshing thing, especially compared to the mountains and mountains of pure drivel out there which are considered 'HORROR' films these days, is that for it's very simple and straight forward story, it is done very well. I mean, REALLY... How many times do we see films where groups of young people go off somewhere and not ONE of them could act their way out of their own @ss crack...? Plenty. I really liked the calm and understated job they all did in their performances; that alone was quite refreshing. And it was directed in a very competent manner with nothing overdone or over-stylized. Just straight forward Suspense / Horror with a nice little 'Creep' factor towards the end.Like I say, there is nothing that is gonna make you hafta change your pants or anything, and if you are one of these 'HORROR' fans who loves tons of torture and gore, you most likely will be quite bored; a feeling apparently shared by some of the 1-star reviews here. But, if you can appreciate a low key story that is well done, than you should enjoy this one. There's not anything that really stands out as far as the mood, style, or cinematography that sets it way above other Horror films, BUT... compared to the HUGE volume of Horror crap that we have to wade through these days, I feel that the film was put together rather well and deserves a higher rating than what it has.I guess you might say that I am grading this one on a slight curve...

I should have known better. The DVD cover said it was from the producers of "Twilight." The producers of "Twilight" took a mediocre, highly overrated book and turned it into an even more mediocre and overrated movie. (Although to be fair, when forced by my Ph. D. holding wife who somehow is a fan of the Twilight nonsense to see the third movie, it was pleasing when the werewolf character was running away and the strung-out little girl who is the lead called "Jacob, stay!") But enough of the time wasted in my life on Twilight. Sam's Lake is another 87 minutes I'll never get back. Acting--crap. Plot--crap. "Supernatural horror that will leave you trembling"--none. Zero. The most supernatural thing was that my liver didn't climb up my throat and choke my brain for watching this. I am certain that there are other movies this bad out there, but I am hard pressed to remember one. Save yourself. Avoid this flick. Tell your friends.

This is the most insane horror movie that I have seen, but I liked it. The murderers are a serial killer brother and sister that are the son and daughter of a serial killer. When they were kids, their dad had them invite their friends over to the woods near their cabin and the three of them would hunt them down and kill them because their motto is that the dark sleep brings them closer to each other. They end up doing the same thing as adults while avoiding their dad who wants to kill them. This did have a lot of violence, but not very much gore compared to other R rated horror flicks which is fine with me because I care more about the plot than the amount of violence.

From the Friday THE THIRTEENTHs to CABIN FEVER this 'cabin by the lake/ teens in the woods' horror genre has been done to death.SAM'S LAKE both adds and detracts from this genre at the same time; it adds another piece of rubbish to the pile and it detracts from the few truly original and quality productions in this genre.The story is just a knock-off that pulls elements from the numerous other flicks in the genre. Instead of crazy Jason with his crazy mother, crazy Samantha has a crazy father and crazy brother. Her rag-tag band of young somewhat buff friends/victims are little more than bland stereotypes for a diversity campaign. The horror aspect is a real disappointment; the victims never really fight back and are easily killed. The horror scenes just aren't scary and the acting is bad. In an obvious attempt to pander to preteen girls and perhaps a gay following from his other so-called acting ventures, the actor who plays Sam's brother takes his shirt off and runs around in the woods half naked during the final night hunt and killing segment. Within the story this is illogical --- there's no reason for it; but, as a gimmick to keep viewers watching the practice of showing some skin is done in movies all the time --- but usually with more attractive actors.