Well, this is a little weird. I recently watched the film “House of Darkness“ which I’d berated for being an hour of people talking about modern sexual mores, followed by a big reveal and then violence. Then, the next day, I watched “Bone Lake” (I’ve got a cold, so I’m watching a lot of movies) and it’s almost the same model. Fortunately, this one makes a lot more sense, and the tense third act actually has some heft to do it.
After a hilariously, grisly introduction featuring characters we never really see again, our story kicks off with a thirty-something couple arriving at an elegant Airbnb they have rented for a weekend. It looks like it’s gonna be a great getaway until it turns out another couple has been booked for the same location. The two pairs work it out and decide to share the space.
Soon, the man and woman in that other couple start prodding the exposed nerves in our first couples’ relationship. Not everything is as copacetic as at first seemed, it turns out.
(It’s worth noting that we’ve seen this set up before: one couple pushing the boundaries of another. It drove both the Danish and American versions of the movie “Speak No Evil.“)
There’s a secret at play here, and when it finally gets revealed, it got a raised eyebrow from me. I won’t say too much, but it reminded me of an editorial penned by psychologist Stephen Pinker years ago that described moral questions about a particular sexual scenario.
When the violence kicks in, it’s cathartic and unending. Really well done.
The look of the film is top-notch. The set designers and costumers create a color scheme that really pops.
The ending has a black humor of the sort I love.
The more I think about it, this film deserves a lot more attention than it’s received.
