the leading man is my tpye

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

A different way of telling a story

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

I have been waiting an absurdly long time to see The Black Waters of Echo's Pond after missing my chance back when it had a limited theatrical release in April 2010. After that, the film vanished and wasn't released on DVD due to distribution conflicts until September 2013. I have been following its production, release, and lengthy stay in purgatory for sometime, as I did for other films such as The Poughkeepsie Tapes and The Worst Movie Ever!. I'm beginning to contemplate if I was put on this planet for reasons other than seeing film after film.Unlike The Poughkeepsie Tapes, I didn't feel overwhelmed by greatness upon viewing The Black Waters of Echo's Pond. Horror films, as a whole, are a complete gamble, and more-so for low-budget ones, which can either be stunning works of independent craft or redundant tosh. Here is the case where a horror film becomes so wrapped up in delivering a story that affects characters that it forgets to include the jolts we expect until the end, as if it forgot its main job as a fantasy-horror film.The film stars Danielle Harris, arguably the most famous actress here due to her role in the Hatchet films, along with James Duvall, Mircea Monroe, M.D. Walton, and several others as a group of friends who go out to a cabin in the woods for a weekend (if I had a dollar for every time I used a variation of the above sentence in a review for a horror film). They discover a board game in the cabin, which has been possessed with cockamamie powers from years past, and their choice to play the game allows for dark secrets and repressed demons to resurface, as well as a twisted turn of demonic presences to appear.In a basic sense, the film feels like an adult Jumanji, complete with the haunted board game and the uncertain circumstances that arouse from playing it. At very least the film remains mildly intriguing just to simply see where it will go. Often I find the first twenty-five minutes of a horror film, more-so than any other genre, to be the make-it-or-break-it minutes of a horror film. Very few horror films rebound after that first twenty-five minutes and I was always curious to see where The Black Waters of Echo's Pond would end up.That's not to say the project doesn't become flabby and a bit misguided in the latter half. As in real life, the bickering between the friends gets to be a bit insufferable. Conversations feel like they've been repeated and dialog clearly feels like it is becoming strained and repetitive. However, I applaud the trio of writers, Michael Berenson, Gabriel Bologna (who also directs), and Sean Clark for attempting to guide this horror piece into a more dialog-driven spectacle.On the contrary, when marketing your film as one of the horror genre, you need to deliver scares in some way, shape, or form. For the trio of writers, this seems like it was an afterthought. Most of the gore and horror elements arrive around fifteen minutes before the film ends, cementing that this wasn't the writers immediate focus seeing as it's hardly a focus at all. The scares are mildly effective, but often second-rate and only emphasize a blandly eerie vibe.What you're left with upon viewing The Black Waters of Echo's Pond is simply entertainment, a decent fantasy element exercised efficiently, passable dialog, forgettable scares, and some very nice black and teal cinematography that can only emphasize the uncomfortable atmosphere. Take it as it is and you'll find an experience at least more effective than the latest sequel or remake playing at the multiplex.Starring: Robert Patrick, Danielle Harris, James Duval, Nick Mennell, Mircea Monroe, and M.D. Walton. Directed by: Gabriel Bologna.

The Black Waters of Echo's Pond starts in Meandros Valley in Turkey during April 1927 where a team of archeologist's uncover some sort of tomb, inside they find some old relics including what looks like some sort of board game. Jump forward to the present where nine teenage friends have arranged to spend a relaxing weekend on an island owned by Pete (Robert Patrick) just off the coast of Maine, the friends are given the freedom of the island & Pete's house. During the first night the power fails & when checking the circuit breakers in the basement the friends find an old chest inside which is the same game that was found in Turkey in 1927 that has been hidden from human eye's for decades. Since television is banned the friends agree to play the game, a game which ask's personal questions & seems to bring out the worst in people as it explores secrets & fantasies. Unable to resist the game the friends start to turn on each other, if that wasn't enough a horned Demon possesses them & uses those in it's control to kill the other's...Co-written & directed by Gabriel Bologna this justifiably obscure low budget horror film is only really notable for the fact it has the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) in it, otherwise this is strictly forgettable teen slasher with a hint of supernatural nonsense. The script plays it absolutely straight with no sense of humour, I suppose you could accuse The Black Waters of Echo's Pond as being an adult horror take on the great Robin Williams adventure film Jumanji (1995) in which some ancient & supernatural board game causes havoc in the present as people play it, all the aspects of the game are twisted & end up very bad for those playing but it does take a while to get going. It's about fifty minutes in before the killing starts & even then there's little more to it than your average teen slasher although the attempt to add the board game & the twisted consequences of playing it are appreciated even if they amount to nothing & like your typical teen slasher seem to revolve around sex, nudity, drinking beer & swearing. There's nothing subtle here, the script tries to explore the psychological side of the friends arguing & how things can get out of hand by both telling lies & the truth but none of it has any substance. Once things get going during the final forty odd minutes The Black Waters of Echo's Pond isn't too bad with an amusing scene in which some blonde babe teases another girl with her big breast's but again it's typical lowbrow teen slasher level writing, the twist ending is annoyingly bad & pretty much makes everything before redundant.There's a bit of gore here, there are a couple of gory chainsaw killings, some guy gets a rake stuck in his head, someone falls face first on a bear trap, there's some blood splatter, there are some severed titties & gouged out eyes, someone's tooth is pulled out with pliers, someone is impaled on a branch, people are stabbed & shot as well. I have probably made The Black Waters of Echo's Pond gorier than it actually is but the amount of red stuff is appreciated in an otherwise poor film. For some reason which is never fully explained some half man half Goat creature turns up, it obviously has something to do with the game but it never does anything other than stand there.The IMDb reckons The Black Waters of Echo's Pond had a budget of about $5,000,000 which I find impossible to believe, if this did cost that much where did all the money go? The real budget was probably a tenth of that figure. Both Dannielle Harris & Robert Patrick have been in some really big films & I don't think either will rate this amongst their best although they both try to put in decent performances. The rest of the cast were obviously chosen for their looks rather than ability & that blonde chick is really hot, whoever she is.The Black Waters of Echo's Pond is a forgettable teen horror film, sure it tries to have a little bit more to than most & it's slightly gorier than most low budget horror flicks out there but it's nothing special & it takes too long to get going & once it does get going the twist ending kicks in & renders everything before pointless. That blonde bird is hot though...

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.

I had the honor, I suppose, of seeing this as a convention last year. After a meet and greet with some of the cast and crew, the theater went dark and this movie flickered up on the screen. Roughly 7 minutes in, I turned to my friend and told him every plot twist we were going to see, the order the characters would die in, and how the movie would end. I was about 94% dead-on, and the row behind me started laughing out loud every time one of my predictions came true. The film looked alright and had a decent score, but the characters were not well written and the plot was so by-the-numbers it killed any chance for suspense to build. What we do get is some long slooow character development of several unlikable people and when the horror does kick in, it makes little sense and doesn't seem to fit the tone that led up to it. I hate to say it, because the cast/crew were very supportive and proud of their work, but I've essentially seen this movie before, and seen it done better. The only recommendations I can give are for James Duval and Robert Patrick, both of whom give inspired performances with pretty bare roles.