Indie horror keeps finding new ways to stretch a budget. Valentines Lake might have the boldest one we’ve seen in a while. Ranked:
5. It’s set on Galentine’s weekend
Four friends, a small-town getaway, no dates. A perfect setup for things to go very wrong.
4. The cult has a lake god on a feeding schedule
The town has kept an ancient creature asleep for generations with a tradition of human sacrifice. The friends show up right on schedule. Bad timing.
3. It’s straight-up Cthulhu-inspired
Writer-director Trent Duncan doesn’t hide it:
“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
2. The score just won an award
Darren Morze’s music took Best Original Music Score at the Nashville Horror Film Festival. That’s a horror-score win for a movie whose big monster mostly lives underwater.
1. It shares its footage with a completely different movie
This is the big one. Valentines Lake is half of the Two Feature Project from Duncan and Joseph O’Connor. They used one shared script and core production footage to make two separate horror features. The other one, Axes and Os, is a slasher where the same friends are hunted by Luther Dremel, a vengeful Valentine’s Day ax killer.
Same weekend. Same friends. One gets a monster, the other gets an ax. Watch both and tell us which way you’d rather go out.
Valentines Lake runs 77 minutes and it’s streaming now on Screamify.
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