Spooky Season 2025: Bone Lake Review

Bone Lake is the newest film from director Mercedes Bryce Morgan, and is finally releasing in theaters after its world premiere at last year’s Fantastic Fest. Sage (Maddie Hasson) and Diego’s (Marco Pigossi) romantic getaway to the secluded Bone Lake takes an unexpected turn when they discover that their Airbnb just happened to be double booked, forcing them to share a mansion with a mysterious, yet alluring couple Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita). With Sage and Diego’s relationship already in a rocky spot, tensions quickly escalate, and the retreat devolves into a web of deception, desire, and manipulation gradually revealing long-buried secrets amongst both couples. After building up a considerable amount of buzz and hype from Fantastic Fest audiences, Bone Lake certainly lives up to the hype.

A wickedly entertaining, darkly hilarious, and gleefully twisted erotic horror thriller, the film is basically a much more comedic and way hornier version of Speak No Evil, but is still very much its own thing. Hasson, Pigossi, Roe, and Nechita are all solid, committing to the campier and more provocative elements that it often leans on. In particular, Hasson and Pigossi sell Sage and Diego’s strained but still loving relationship, making for a pair of likeable leads, despite their faults. But as strong as they are, Roe and Nechita steal the show and are definitely given the flashier roles as Will and Cin, fully playing into their heightened nature. Their unpredictability as characters make them all the more exciting to watch.

Above all else, this psychological horror thriller gets to some dark places than that are sure to scare the daylights out of audiences and perhaps keep them up at night afterwards. The film succeeds at this through a level of immersion that puts audiences right into Sage and Diego’s shoes as they will feel everything the main characters feel, equal parts awkward, weirded out, and uneasy from start to finish. As the story goes on, things only get crazier, and more uncomfortable yet it maintain a sense of fun through it all, keeping a great tongue in cheek sense of humor that the film never loses sight of. All this buildup leads to a blood soaked and intense but satisfying climax, making the journey all the more worthwhile. One violent act moment early on sets the tone effectively, setting up the chaos that is to come.

That being said, what holds Bone Lake back from reaching its full potential is a slow start and a highly predictable final outcome. Though it boasts quite a few twists and turns throughout, its ultimate revelation of the truth about what is going on and why is a predictable one, and underwhelming considering what it could have been. Had it leaned much harder into the mystery components from the start, it would have been far better off as it fails to leave anyone guessing due to how predictable it all is. While never boring or slow, the film does take some time to truly get going but once it does, it will hook audiences in, and keep them intrigued and on the edge of their seats over the course of its relatively short runtime, clocking in at just over 90-minutes.

In the end, Bone Lake is absolutely worth a watch this Halloween season, especially for fans of psychological horror with some comedic elements sprinkled in. However, it is just a shame how predictable it is, but its fun premise, game cast, and bloody third act make up for it. Like all of the best horror or thriller films, it benefits from going in as blind as possible, so all the crazy turns and surprises make an even bigger splash.

still courtesy of Bleecker Street/LD Entertainment/Vortex Media

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/