The Black Waters of Echo's Pond

THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO'S POND has a great first half. It sees the usual group of unsuspecting youngsters - fleshed out with actual back stories and characterisation this time around - getting their mitts on a creepy old board game, a game which proceeds to bring out the very worst in these personalities. Soon, the players are turning on each other as past deeds and secrets come to life, and of course it all ends in murder.

The set-up is a neat one and packed with promise. The characters are far more interesting than you'd suspect and there's plenty of humour along the way too. The cast incorporates Robert Patrick (wasted in what is little more than a cameo), the 'Babysitter Twins' from DEATH PROOF & PLANET TERROR (their acting is poor to say the least), and scream queen Danielle Harris (HALLOWEEN 4).

A shame, then, that the second half is so lacklustre. All that set-up sort of melts away in favour of some very typical, completely ordinary stalk-and-slash sequences. Atmosphere disappears in favour of gory mayhem, and yet it's all very familiar and by rote. It's not that THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO'S POND is particularly bad, because it's not; it's just that it's very ordinary, and it shouldn't be given that set-up.

Stumbling upon another horror movie that I had never heard about, and finding the movie's cover to be interesting, and given my life-long love of the horror genre, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch "The Black Waters of Echo's Pond". Sure, I had no idea what I was in for here, so director Gabriel Bologna had every opportunity to bedazzle and entertain me.

The storyline in the movie was not one that was particularly entertaining. Sure it was watchable for what it was, but I didn't find it to be an outstanding horror experience. The narrative was too slow paced and there weren't really any thrills or scares in the storyline. Sure, maybe if you're right off of the boat and never seen a horror movie before, then "The Black Waters of Echo's Pond" might be scary. But for a seasoned horror veteran, this was a mere walk in the park. Writers Michael Berenson, Gabriel Bologna and Sean Clark delivered nothing out of the ordinary here.

It felt as if the writers were writing independently on the script from a base idea, but none of the three knew what the other two were writing. And that made for a somewhat befuddled and jumpy movie experience. The narrative was a bit all over the place, but failing to be all there at the same time.

The movie actually had some familiar faces and talents on the cast list, such as Danielle Harris, James Duval, Robert Patrick, Electra Stone, Elise Avellan and Richard Tyson. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

If you enjoy horror movies, then "The Black Waters of Echo's Pond" is not a movie that I would recommend you to rush out and track down a copy of. It just simply wasn't really worth sitting through 89 minutes of what director Gabriel Bologna brought to the screen. Sure, I managed to endure the movie and sit through it to the bitter end, but believe me I am never return to watch it a second time.

My rating of director Gabriel Bologna's 2009 movie "The Black Waters of Echo's Pond" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

Nine friends take a holiday at a Victorian home on a private island and uncover a game that when played brings out the worst in each of them. Jealously, greed, hatred, lust, all of the things they keep buried deep inside themselves rise to the surface and come to a boil.

Something went terribly wrong when making this movie. It was written and produced by Sean Clark, one of the greatest human beings in the horror community. It stars James Duval, Danielle Harris and Robert Patrick... that alone should sell it to fans. Even the effects and story are pretty decent.

Despite this, something about it makes the film boring. Probably the directing, but it could be more than that. Duval in some scenes is great and in others makes no effort to act. Were not enough takes shot, or did he not have the heart? Almost as bad, the distributor (Anchor Bay) seemed to have no love for the film. Clark put together a nice package of extras (which he gives away for free) that Anchor Bay turned down. Why? A bad film is a bad film, but some features might have at least explained what happened.

Watching this in 2024, and it feels like and 80's movie. There is definitely always worse. I didn't give it a 1 because I do like the creativity it's like a thriller meets the game jumanji. I liked how the bored game made you tell your deepest darkest fears, secrets and fantasies. Not a thriller where you scared to look, you're not even going to be on the edge of your seat. It's a thriller genre because the blood, gore and killing. I realized it had the same twins from "Planet Terror" that was definitely a plus. I guess the goat would possess people and not do the dirty work himself, more so just lurking around in mirrors and reflections. As you get closer and closer to the ending, it definitely gets cheesier. Movie had a couple chuckles but overall a general teenage movie were killing starts, and secrets about come out.

Oh, what could have been created with a better script and direction. Zarathustra for adults(pseudo). This really could have been so scary, but not with this crew. What a waste.