Too much of everything

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Just watched "Lake Alice", kind of a home invasion horror film, but mixed in with other horror genres to keep you guessing. Pretty standard plot, until the end, of a family going to a small town in Wisconsin and staying at winter home for Christmas. There is the Father, Mother, the daughter who has brought her boyfriend that they have never meant, and they announce their engagement. There's her former boyfriend still living in the town, and you just know by the various characters, that evil is on its way. I kind of liked it, the kills are pretty good and nasty, and a couple of plot twists at the end. All in all, I enjoyed it for the most part, and for a low budget indie, very well done.

Okay after watching the trailer, which hadn't given too much away, and was actually quite a good trailer, I decided to watch this title, and see if it was as good as before mentioned trailer, and in all honesty I should have stopped at the trailer.After the opening sequence, you just knew this wasn't going to be a classic! It says it was filmed on Lake Alice in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, why didn't we see more of the actual Lake? The director was probably worried in case the lake got voted star of the show is this abomination of a movie. I was expecting a slasher/horror movie, where whoever the killer was, would ultimately either meet their fate in the lake, or send victim after victim to a watery grave then succumb to whatever hero, but none of this happened, what we got was a fleeting glance of the lake and the surrounding view, nothing to write home about.The film was as predictable as a magician doing a card trick that people all know that what he is doing is complete bullshit I mean seriously, the acting was just awful and the daughter and her mothers fake crying was actually doing my head in that much, that I was actually hoping and praying the killer would hurry up and do the job, but nothing happened, have seen faster snails, than the killer! After a while it became apparent that there was more than one killer, but we didn't know who it was at that stage, well that's what the director would have loved to have thought, but again it was so obvious who it was, especially within the poor attempts at trying to sway us and believe it was certain people when in fact it wasn't any of those people! And as for the ending, oh dear!In summary, this film was a lot of rubbish, avoid at all costs, and if you have seen the trailer, don't believe everything you see.. 1/10

This was a pleasant surprise. Most films like this (no big Hollywood star, lower budget as in not a ga-zillion bucks, smaller production company etc...) are just slightly different levels of BAD. I have rated them from 2 to 4 most times. This one is different!Even with numerous characters introduced, each actor did very well. THAT in itself is a huge difference in these types of films. The first 40 minutes lays a nice solid foundation presenting a story about full characters that I came to like, dislike and/or suspect. From the main family of characters to the small town ass-hole cops, an ex-boyfriend, to the weird dude from down the road. Some may find this part of the movie, slow paced, but I found it essential.If inconsistencies tend to bother you, there aren't huge ones here, and very few that I noticed but honestly there were one or two...mostly the same you find in many horror stories, but because every thing else was so nicely done I was able to forget it easily and just enjoy the flow. The score was a bit weird, particularly in an early scene. They used a tinkling music box sound, that in the first part of the movie sounded a bit odd to me, but when it was used again it was more appropriate. And THIS is just my tastes and my preferences. You may not even notice it.I really enjoyed that there were surprises and twists! One right after another! After the first 40 minutes it really picks up a rapid pace, and soon, all the characters that were the possible "bad guy" gets killed off so quickly I was left wondering who the heck it could possibly be!The last 20 minutes, several things happen that is unusual and different than the average horror film. I don't want to get too detailed and ruin it for you but will warn you there are a few clichés...but since there were enough twists to the story I think it made up for the few there were.The bad guy, was simply yet sufficiently scary. The killings/blood/violence done realistically shocking but not over the top gory for that unnecessary gross out value. Then right at the very end, when you think all the twists have been shown, they give ya another one.So a very nice viewing indeed! I hope this review helps you to decide whether this is the type of film you could enjoy or not.

We rented this on Amazon and we liked it for the fact it was not just gore and bad acting in fact the acting was good and the gore good for the scenes needed at times. The feel of the film is cold and that works, I would have liked to have heard more creepy music but the tension was still there. I did like the characters especially the police officers (or should I say cops) they were fun and really messed with the family in this. The leads were good the daughter was a little weak at first but got much better towards the end and gave a solid performance. Some very smart twists the end we did like!! Overall a good holiday slasher with quality acting and good old fun for the Christmas holidays.