thehorrorclub: Genre- Slasher

"A decent, if very familiar, Slasher flick."

When we received a screener for WTF! in our mail, we were excited to check it out because it feels like forever since we've seen a good, old-fashioned Slasher flick. You know, a group of teens heads into the woods for a weekend of debauchery, only to be sliced and diced by an unseen killer...

Alright, maybe an "Old-fashioned" Slasher flick involves a masked killer of some sort, and this movie doesn't have that, but it does get the other key elements of the sub-genre right; boobs and blood.

For the most part.

A half-naked girl covered in blood runs out of a cabin during an ongoing massacre and screams "What the fuck?!", and our adventure begins!

Rachel, the survivor of the above-mentioned massacre, is heading to a remote cabin in the woods with her friends to drink, get high, and have some sex, which is also known as spring break. Rachel is the good girl; Bonnie is the bitchy sex-bomb; Sam is Rachel's POS cheating boyfriend; Lisa is a whore who knows Jutitsu; Jacob is a stoner; Bevan has a stupid name; and Perez Hilton is inexplicably in another movie, which defies all logic.

AN ANNOYING BUNCH, THEY ARE... WHICH ONLY SERVES TO MAKE THEIR IMPENDING DEATHS THAT MUCH MORE SATISFYING.

Of course once they start to party, they start dying one by one, because this is a Slasher flick. Who is killing them off? And why? And why won't Rachel get naked, especially when all of her friends are? And seriously, why do people keep putting Perez Hilton in movies? Far be it from us to spoil the movie for you here, because in the end, the answers to those questions don't really matter.

Low budget slasher fun ensues.

THAT'S NOT HOW YOU PLAY BEER PONG!

WTF! is a slasher flick of the lower budget, b-movie variety that is full of cliche characters, sexy girls, and bloody kills... which is really all you need from a movie of this kind. It drags early on with far too many scenes of exposition and talking, it's plot doesn't make much sense, and its ending will leave you scratching your head, but on a visceral level, it works like a Slasher flick should.

The movie jumps back and forth between the partying and Rachel being questioned by Police about the deaths of her friends, so we know from the get go that they're all doomed, which is a good thing, because just about all of the characters in the movie are shallow, vapid, and downright unlikable. They're only here to look good and die painfully, and they at least accomplish both rather well.

Rachel is about the only likable character in the bunch, and even she irked us with her putting up with such a douchebag boyfriend, or having such asshole friends for that matter, but what can you do.

YOU MAY NEED A FEW BEERS TO GET THROUGH THIS ONE.

A nail through a foot, a dick gets his dick cut off, throat-slitting, some hairspray violence, and all sorts of Slasher-y bloodletting towards the end of this one.

"OMG MY FACE, BITCHES!"

Everyone aside from Callie Ott gets naked in this one.

TEASE.

"But then I reminded him about the time I caught him face-fucking my babysitter, so yep, no work for me!"

"Jacob's Uncle Travis?"

"Jewtitsu!"

SOMEONE'S IN TROUBLE.

WTF! is a Slasher flick; you see this movie because it's full of hot chicks getting naked and offers some fun kill scenes. If you go in expecting the plot to make sense, be original, or keep you on the edge of your seat, you'll be disappointed.

Slasher fans will have fun with this one.

C+

WTF! hits VOD on August 1st.

Andrea Hunt makes us say WTF for all the right reasons.

You can check out all of the ladies of WTF! in their own Horror Hotties post, right over HERE.

"The director of this movie would make a righteous Friday the 13th flick."

We love Slasher flicks. They usually tend to be a bit of shamelessly gory, nudity-filled fun, which might not be the apex of filmmaking, but they sure do tend to make for a good time.

Lake Bodom is definitely a Slasher flick, but its one that breaks the conventional mold. The teens in this movie aren't going to the woods to party and have sex, and therefore be punished for their illicit acts by an unstoppable killing machine, instead they're looking for answers to a decades-old murder mystery, which unfortunately for them, they find.

What makes Lake Bodom so enjoyable are the twists that it employs to tell its story. Because of those twists, we're going to keep the plot details as vague as possible, because to ruin them would be a disservice to you.

In 1960, three teens were murdered while camping at Lake Bodom, which is just west of Helsinki, Finland. To this day, the case remains a part of Finnish lore, as the murders are still unsolved. True story, you can read all about it HERE.

TEENAGERS CAN'T EVEN GO CAMPING IN EUROPE WITHOUT DYING!

Back in the land of narrative fiction... Two boys are looking to reenact the notorious murders via photoshoot, and they enlist the help of two of their hottie classmates to do so. Maybe it's morbid curiosity that makes them want to tempt fate by seeing if the killer is still out there (although nearly 45 years later, that doesn't seem very likely), but they're willing to give it a go anyway. Or maybe they're just trying to get laid.

Needless to say, things go very, very wrong for all of them.

ESPECIALLY THE GIRLS.

Lake Bodom is a fun and clever throwback to 80's Slasher flicks, that doesn't really rest on the laurels of that beloved sub-genre. Instead, the film subverts the trappings of the usual teen terror flick, and turns its story on its head not once, but twice, with twists that make things feel exciting and fresh. The first twist that the movie gives us knocked us for a loop, and kicked the movie into a higher, and different, gear. The second one, which sets up the finale, was good too, but it felt a bit underwhelming (and a bit implausible) compared to what came before it.

Maybe it's because some things happen and we get no answers as to how or why.

The story doesn't always make sense, especially when it comes to the final showdown, or the time/distance constraints that the director conveniently ignores in order to have his killers show up where he wants them to at any time, but it certainly is slick and fun enough for us not to care all that much.

YOU SHOULD ALL RUN.

This isn't an overtly bloody movie, but there are a few kill scenes and bloody bits that work really well.

LOOKS LIKE SHE FOUND SOME ANSWERS AFTER ALL.

Nope, because they apparently don't make Slasher flicks like they used to.

OH MAN, WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY.

Lake Bodom may have its flaws, but it gets so many other things right that they end up not mattering too much by the end. This is a fun, well-made flick that we hope will not be the last of its kind.

B+

Lake Bodom is streaming now on Shudder.