Having been an attendee of the London Frightfest since its’ inception in 2000, you get a sense as time goes on of which films are going to make the grade and which are going to fall by the wayside.
When the passes go on sale, there is a mad rush to claim them. Nowadays though, it is as much about the community as it is about the films that play across the multiple screens. One of the virtues of this festival, given its’ current settlement in the prestigious Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London, is that indie horror films will get a chance to be seen on one of the biggest screens in the UK in a single screen environment that is rare these days with the advent of the multiplex over the last four decades.
Into the mix for the 2025 edition comes the terrific and cheerfully brutal BONE LAKE, directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan from a screenplay by Joshua Friedlander. A simple set-up yields some very satisfactory denouement as we watch dedicated couple Diego (Marco Pigossi) and Sage (Maddie Hasson) take up a rural retreat, Bone Lake, in the heart of a forest area. The pair have ambition and a bond that never seems destined to be broken.
Never, that is…until the arrival of attractive young couple Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita) who appear to have double-booked the place. Diego has designs on proposing to Sage, but after disclosing this very personal bit of news to Will, Will decides in turn to propose to Cin using the very ring that Diego intended for Sage.
Splitting the pair up, Will and Cin decide to play the other two off against each other by playing a series of psychological – and sexual – mind games to make them jealous of each other. It is this that drives a wedge and threatens the status quo dynamic of Diego and Sage’s future together….
Horror-noir has been getting a boost recently with the blockbuster success of WEAPONS (no review on this site yet, as the film is one that people should discover for themselves and make their own mind up). BONE LAKE is another fine example of a film that uses its’ attributes in the genre very well and yields some terrific moments of shock and plays on audience expectation to its’ very zenith.
BONE LAKE played as part of the London Frightfest 2025. For info and tickets about future events, please go to: