The Black Waters of Echo's Pond (2010)

That's not me being creative, that is the "German" title of the movie. The DVD was just released (2013) and I watched the movie. I have to admit I was a bit surprised that I liked it. It wasn't so much because of the twins (they look good, but are the weakest when it comes to acting, not to say the others are great of course) or the twist(s) the movie has up to the end.It was because of the script and the obvious fun the people involved had. You have one shower scene and everything else you'd expect from a horror movie like that. Robert Patrick even felt he had to produce the movie, not only have a small part in it. It's not great by a long shot, but it's entertaining enough

This recent movie is kind of in the vein of "Evil Dead" and is certainly no worse than the recent remake. Three couples (including Danielle Harris), a slutty female friend (Mirceau Monroe), and another male (James Duval), who is persona non grata with the most of rest of the gang, all show up on an island owned by the grizzled uncle (Robert Patrick)of one of the guys. In an effort to entertain themselves during a power outage, the group decides to play a strange board game they find in the attic (that no one outside of a horror movie would even recognize as a board game, let alone decide to play). The strange game quickly brings all the groups simmering resentments to the surface and eventually results in the usual full-blown demonic possession and gory murder. The end though has a nice twist.The movie features no less than three horror/genre cult figures in Danielle Harris (of the "Halloween" franchise), James Duval ("May"), and Robert Patrick ("The Terminator 2"). Robert Rodriquez's two identical twin nieces (the "Babysitter Twins" in his "Planet Terror" part of "Grindhouse") show up as a couple of, uh, bickering identical twins. There are also TWO black guys-- Harris' proud-to-be-black boyfriend and his back-stabbing "oreo" friend and co-worker, who has been promoted over him at work. Then there's Mirceau Monroe and her impressive breasts (who really should have received their own credit as they constantly upstage their owner). This is definitely a strong cast, especially for an "Evil Dead" knock-off that has been sitting on the shelf for several years.Of course, it is not a particularly SCARY movie. It also makes the mistake of promising a lot more sex than it ultimately delivers. Sure, you get Monroe (and her breasts) in a brief shower scene and the "Babysitter Twins" (or, more likely,their body doubles) running around in thong underwear. But the movie also PROMISES an identical-twin sex scene that never materializes, and a lesbian scene between Harris and Monroe that tragically takes place entirely off-screen (oh, the humanity!). The movie is still fairly effective without such sex scenes, so why even promise them in the first place? Despite these flaws though, which are pretty typical of a lot of sex-obsessed yet strangely prudish modern-day horror flicks, this is still a moderately fun horror movie, which I guess I'd recommend--yeah, why not?

I'm in the line to get in and the people behind me comment; "what's Blackwater about?"hmmm.... I know some of the people who did this movie so I know it's a B-movie upfront. Horror genre, psycology thriller type and I've lined up the perfect date for this. Sex and gore and thrill kills, some screams;great movie to set the mood when we get home.I'm thinking she's saying to me, "babe what got in to you...Pan?"THE MOVIE: The movie is paced OK, the characters had to be developed.I think since one of the characters had a breast job done, they should've been exceptionally large.The lesbian scene should have been shown.The nice twin should've went through with her swapping and it should've been depicted as wild.The other twin should've been shown kind of cold;then they kill people.Sex and gore and screams;this is that type of movie.Robert Patrick was OK.The sound in this movie was fantastic and I do mean really good!The HD picture quality was good also.The acting was OK.I'm a Scorsese, Tarantino type of guy;never enough blood,sex,gore for me and more could've been shown here.The storyline was a great idea also.Over-all rating--GOOD.

The Black Waters of Echo's Pond (1:31, R) — Fantasy: Supernatural, bargain basement, originalI rate SF&F movies on a scale of 1 (execrable) to 9 (superlative). Not surprisingly, a year's worth of them tends to form a bell-shaped curve, with lots of movies in the middle and hardly any at the extremes. This one is among the rarities — but unfortunately not up there at the Avatar or Dark Knight end of the scale: It's one of the worst movies I've ever seen.Here are the characters: • Rick (James Duval), the generally unwelcome 9th wheel at the party • Kathy (Danielle Harris), whose brother Danny, sporting a "1.8%" blood-alcohol level, had been killed in a car crash while riding with Rick • Robert (M. D. Walton), token Hispanic, a recently promoted loan officer • Trent (Walker Howard), token black guy, a junior loan officer who got Rob his job • Veronique (Mircea Monroe), a flirtatious sex kitten with new boobs • Erica (Elise Avellan), the goody-goody twin • Anton (Arcadiy Golubovich), her curly-haired, accented husband • Renee (Electra Avellan), the more daring twin • Josh (Nick Mennell), her bland and forgettable fianc頕 Pete (Robert Patrick, who also executive produced), the eccentric old guy with the shotgun who owns the island and the lodge on itThe opening 9 minutes supposedly occur in the "Meandros Valley, Turkey, April 1927", as archeologists unearth Omphalos, lost temple of Pan. Among their findings is a map to Pan's lair, Pandemonium, where "demons were entertained by the tortures of the damned". The expedition leader is warned by its financier to bring all the artifacts to him immediately. For some bizarre and unexplained reason, this entails going to Beacon's Isle, Maine. By the time the financier arrives, the archeologists have converted their goodies into a tabletop-sized board game and proceeded to kill each other; the last of them takes out the money guy, then blows his own brains out.Zip ahead to the present day, when 8 college buddies arrive on that self-same island for a weekend getaway, along with mismatched acquaintance Rick, who's evidently done different things to tick off each of the others individually. They discover the game walled up behind some boards in the basement and decide, since the electricity has just gone out, that they may as well try playing it. The 1st Chance card they get ominously suggests "speak thy hurt unspoken", and Trent uses it as an invitation to unload his resentment over Rob's success at their joint workplace.Things deteriorate from there, as old jealousies (and new), misunderstandings, resentments, etc. flare up. Periodically the red-eyed goat head of Pan puts in an appearance in a non- speaking role, for no apparent reason. Sooner or later, each of the young people undergoes a transition in which their eyes turn black, grossly overdone black mascara and lipstick starts running down their faces, and they engage in frenzied homicidal attacks on their erstwhile friends, using rocks, rakes, spear guns, shotguns, knives, cleavers, icepicks, chainsaws, and good old-fashioned thumbs-on-the-windpipe choking. Bad as the plot is, the acting is worse. The make-up is screamingly awful. The very limited effects are abysmal. None of the characters is remotely likable. Despite the prolog, there's nothing about Turkey or ancient mythology in the main storyline, and neither the black waters nor Echo's Pond puts in an appearance. This has all the hallmarks of something slapped together by a drunken committee over a bad weekend.Fun to review, tho.