Vamp or Not? Wicked Lake

Wicked Lake was a 2008 film directed by Zach Passero and can we, in the first instance, mention the DVD cover? How much of a Jennifer’s Body vibe did they want to get?

Be that as it may, we can also see the tagline “Life’s a witch and then you die”, oh how we laughed… However, there has often been a crossover between witch movies and vampire movies and some write ups I have seen of this mention 'vampire witches'.

This starts with… breasts… in fact they belong to Ilene (Robin Sydney) who is posing as a life model. One of the students, Caleb (Marc Senter), seems overly affected by her presence. He daydreams her coming over to him, offering him a more erotic showing and then saying that *it* is “laced with razorblades” that will tear his “dirty little cock apart.” This freaks him and he runs out. However, he is less freaked than we first imagine as he also waits outside for Ilene and asks to walk her home.

Now I don’t actually think it was Senter’s fault that this character came across as so bizarre. A sort of psychotically shy Marc Bolan lookalike with learning difficulties… All the male characters are weird stereotypes that are over the top and unrealistic. I blame the director and scriptwriter. Anyway, with an annoying delivery, he talks to her. He eventually gives her his drawing, which she seems happy with; he has drawn a rather unimpressive unicorn in the clouds and says it is how he sees her. He asks if he can touch her breast and she wops it out. However her friend Helen (Eryn Joslyn) opens the door and he runs, crying – Helen asks if he was a prospect but Ilene states that he isn’t anymore.

Caleb gets home, he lives with his severely messed up and dysfunctional family. Mom and pop are dead and so there are brothers Palmer (Will Keenan), who seems in charge of them, and Fred (Justin Stone), as well as wheelchair bound ‘war veteran’ Sir Jim (Frank Birney), who might be an uncle or grandfather or perhaps just some old guy they found. Palmer is angry that Caleb is late home. The eventual punishment is that Palmer kisses and makes up and then bites his lip hard. Caleb leaves the room but eventually returns and says he wants to make amends… he found someone…

We see Ilene and Helen naked with their friends Jill (Eve Mauro) and Mary (Carlee Baker). They kiss each other and the kissing becomes more heated, though it seems to be indicated that the getting it on is more tantric and they are still, in reality, in meditative poses. They go on a trip together, winding up the red necks at the gas station en route and end up at a cabin by a lake. During the day there is skinny dipping and that night there is wine and joints and then there is a knock at the door.

Things go wrong as Caleb and his family turn up… how they found the girls is not explored. All seems a tad awkward and then Palmer hits Caleb and Ilene grabs him and kisses the blood away. Palmer reveals himself to be a sexual sadist and a comment is made, by one of the girls, about waiting until midnight comes around. The girls fight back for a moment and Ilene manages to spear Caleb to a door – a fact that no one seems to care about after she drinks the blood pouring from his mouth.

Now I should mention the cops Ray (Michael Esparza) and Jake (Tim Thomerson; Live Evil) who are exploring a basement somewhere. It turns out, over several scenes, that it is used for ritualistic purposes and has had a lot of blood spilt there. They find a decaying corpse and then we realise that it is the girl’s home and they have left a paper with the cabin marked on it. Why the cops were checking their basement is a mystery. Just as mysterious is how the rednecks, from the gas station, later found them.

Getting back to the girls Ilene manages to make a break for it, get outside and is hunted down by Fred. She is going on about feeling the power of the moon and so he smashes her face with a rock. However, the sadistic games go on for the others until the clock turns midnight. Suddenly the girls are invincible, Jill takes a bullet that just seems to bounce of her skin, and the word witch is used. They say they are immortal.

Beyond this they eat flesh, drink blood and put a straw into Fred’s brain and suck the contents of his skull. The invulnerability lasts between midnight and dawn, it seems, but Ilene is badly damaged and they have to burn her body before dawn so that she will come back whole again. This is achieved ritualistically – pulling teeth and making a sacrifice, one dying to give life. Why does the invulnerability occur at midnight (and what happens if they jump a time zone)? The film doesn’t say but one guesses it cannot be to do with the "witching hour" as the invulnerability lasts longer than 1 hour.

In a (not exclusively) vamp motif, we see bites of the neck, plus we see cannibalism and eyes flashing. They claim immortality and they are aware of what they are and seem to revel in it. There is clearly magic involved and they are called witches – however Ilene seemed drawn to Caleb's blood, in an 'irresistable hunger' sort of way, and it would seem they have to get victims periodically – hence the comment about Caleb being a potential.

This is not a great film. There is too much unanswered in what they are and how the men find them. The male characters are all ridiculous caricatures. The women are a bit better but ultimately are attractive, eventually deadly and yet have nothing in the way of defining character. Music by Al Jourgensen (from Ministry) is good, but is too little too late (although the Ministry cover of What a Wonderful World has to be heard). Of course the main question is, is it vamp?

They are immortal blood drinkers/flesh eaters. The immortality is gained through magic and sacrifice – so life is taken to live. There is certainly a vampiric edge to this but I wouldn’t bust a gut to actually see it I’m afraid.

The imdb page is here.