*Note: This year
for our annual 31 Days of Halloween marathon of horror movie reviews,
rather than write about old favorites, we're focusing on modern
horror films that haven't had a wide theatrical release. So for the
entire month of October, we will be dealing with horror fare that you
can find in the “New Release” section of Netflix or (if you still
have one) your local video store. So instead of nostalgic
appreciations and recommendations, this promises to be more of a “the
good, the bad, and the ugly” kind of affair. Hopefully more good
than bad and ugly, but that remains to be seen.
Review by Bob
Ignizio
The
film BLOOD LAKE:
ATTACK OF THE LAMPREYS
most closely resembles is Joe Dante's original 1978 PIRANHA,
easily the best of the JAWS
rip-offs of that era. PIRANHA
benefited mightily from Dante's stylish direction and humorous
sensibility, and a script by John Sayles that was almost too good for
a low budget rubber fish movie. By comparison BLOOD LAKE's
script, by Delondra Williams and Anna Rasmussen, feels like the
outline to Sayles' screenplay before the characters got fleshed out
and all the fun, quirky bits of business were added in. And if
director James Cullen Bressack has anything that could be considered
a style, he hides it well here. I guess you don't have time to put
much of a stamp on your work when you're cranking out seven movies a
year, though.
