There’s a long horror tradition of women going somewhere to have fun and paying for it. Valentines Lake picks it up and gives it a specific shape: four friends, a Galentine’s weekend, a small town that’s been waiting for them.
The trip is about the friends. Then the locals turn out to be a cult, and the cult has been keeping something asleep under the lake for generations by feeding it. The women are next on the menu.
That premise matters. According to the press kit, the women spend the film fighting to stay ahead of the people hunting them, while a former cult member works out what the creature is and why the town is tied to it. The story is built around their survival.
The cast includes Jamie Bernadette, Cass Huckabay, Madison M. Bowman, Sara Wimmer and Noemi Cabrera, alongside Stephen Lamar Lewis and Brandon Krum.
Writer-director Trent Duncan pitches it as Lovecraft with a cult twist:
“Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, Valentines Lake puts a new spin on Cthulhu mythology, introducing a sinister cult and new twists on the legend. It's a slow-burning mystery with plenty of eerie atmosphere, unexpected surprises, and fun moments along the way.”
— Trent Duncan, writer/director, in the film’s press materials
The film just won Best Original Music Score at the Nashville Horror Film Festival for Darren Morze’s music. And there’s a twist outside the story too. Valentines Lake was made alongside a second feature, Axes and Os, from the same script and core footage. Same friends, same Galentine’s weekend. In that one, they’re hunted by an ax killer instead.
So it’s one group of women and two ways to be hunted. It’s worth thinking about which nightmare you’d pick.
Valentines Lake is streaming on Screamify.
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