Wuchak (November 20, 2021)

_**A group of youths go to a cabin-in-the-woods (no, seriously)**_ Several coeds retreat for some fun-in-the-sun at a vacation home in the backwoods of central Florida. Unfortunately, there’s a weird guy lurking about and suspicious things start happening. “Crazy Lake” (2016) is a dynamic-yet-traditional cabin-in-the-woods slasher that meshes “Bread Crumbs” (2011) and “The Lake on Clinton Road” (2015) with the common tropes of the Friday the 13th films. While only costing $285,000, it does not smack of a “student project,” as one critic called it (I don’t think he’s seen too many micro-budget flicks). Sure, the cast members are all no-names, but the writing/acting is convincing enough and the filmmaking is proficient. The movie doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel and doesn’t need to; it simply entertains within the framework of its subgenre. Someone complained that the protagonists are an obnoxious bunch that “deserve to die,” but that's not true. They're typical youths out celebrating on the weekend or school break. We've all done it and we were all likely “annoying” when we did it. Someone else lamented the flick as “soft porn” because of the “almost no clothing” but, gee, they’re involved in vacation activities like swimming and slip-sliding, which necessitate swim attire. It is true that there’s a strip poker sequence but, again, it’s not like this isn’t something common youths might do when they’re in party mode on Spring Break or what have you. If potential viewers don't think they can handle such a sequence, I suggest staying away. Dark-haired Keily Fernandez stands out in the female department, followed by blonde Skyler Joy. There are a couple of other notables. The director has a good eye for depicting feminine beauty and keeping it fun without getting too tasteless. At the end of the day the movie works for what it is. It contains all the requisite staples of the genre and works them into an entertaining stew that doesn’t overstay its welcome. You won’t figure out the story until the final 15 minutes and, even then, there’s a small surprise or two (although I would’ve done the end-credits sequence differently if I wrote the script). It’s superior to the cartoonish "The Evil Dead" (1981), the over-the-top comical "Evil Dead II" (1987), the trashy "Cabin Fever" (2002), the lame "Zombeavers" (2014) and the too-creative-for-its-own-good "Cabin in the Woods" (2012). The film runs 1 hour, 20 minutes, and was shot in the boonies at Brooksville, Florida, about a 40-minute drive north of Tampa. GRADE: B