The Black Waters of Echo's Pond (2009)

22% of critics liked it
(18 reviews)
27% of users liked it
(954 ratings)

Robert Patrick and Danielle Harris headline this satanic shocker about a group of friends who discover a malevolent board game that unleashes the forces of hell through pent-up emotions. It was supposed to be a relaxing getaway for nine close friends, a carefree trip to a private island far-removed… More Robert Patrick and Danielle Harris headline this satanic shocker about a group of friends who discover a malevolent board game that unleashes the forces of hell through pent-up emotions. It was supposed to be a relaxing getaway for nine close friends, a carefree trip to a private island far-removed from the cares of the real world. Upon arriving at their gorgeous Victorian home retreat, one member of the group discovers a bizarre game hidden beneath the basement stairwell. Before long the group is gathered around the table, eager to learn the rules and have some fun. But this is no ordinary game, because with each roll of the dice the seething anger that everyone struggles to suppress boils over into a diabolical rage of murder and bloodlust. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 31 min.
Directed By: Gabriel Bologna
Written By: Michael Berenson, Gabriel Bologna, Sean Clark
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Horror

In Theaters: Apr 9, 2010 Wide
On DVD: Oct 1, 2010
Studio: Parallel Media

Critic Reviews

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
Give the movie a little credit for coming up with the idea of an ancient monster. And the design of the game is terrific. But this is just Jumanji with gore effects and topless scenes.
Dennis Harvey, Variety
Pacing remains flat, exacerbated by bad dialogue, some subpar f/x and variable perfs.
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times
There's relief in this type of poorly acted claptrap's adherence to movie mathematics, since each slain character is a sign that the movie is that much closer to a credit roll.
Lucy Barber, Boston Globe
These waters are gory and sexually suggestive, and they overfloweth with unoriginality.
Chuck Wilson, Village Voice
Bloody and gory, but in a friendly way, this is a movie for old-school horror fans who understand that, sometimes, bad is good.
Pam Grady, Boxoffice Magazine
Derivative and about as exciting as a checkers tournament (albeit one where the inevitable chainsaw makes a blood spattering appearance), this pallid horror movie is bloody but not even remotely scary.
Andrea Chase, Killer Movie Reviews
the ongoing slaughter is just so much screen time that passes so dully as to qualify as audience torture worse than anything these characters suffer, and their suffering involves a chainsaw at one point
Maitland McDonagh, Miss FlickChick
Feckless young people play a cursed board game that unleashes repressed desires, rips the scabs off festering wounds and brings seething resentments to a boil: Predictable slasher mayhem ensues.
Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique
A Warning to the Curious: Don't let the would-be evocative title fool you into thinking that [this] is anything other than a routine (nay, outdated) splatter film.
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
A mindlessly entertaining, gory and campy homage to the grindhouse films of the 1970's.
Scott Weinberg, FEARnet
A weird, talky, fairly sloppy mess of a low-budget genre flick ... but at least it gets good towards the end.
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
Like Jumanji on bad acid, it's pretty much game for anything.
Josh Bell, Filmcritic.com
Barely rises to the level of a made-for-Syfy time-waster.
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com
Ho-hum. No amount of runaway chainsaws or bear traps can save this vacant excuse for Z-grade horror, which consistently ignores its potential to play out like every other fright fest.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
A high attrition, haunted house throwback certain to send chills up your spine!
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Watching people play a board game ain't ever going to be scary, and that's essentially what we have here -- after a laughably amateurish intro set in the 1920s, when the dice and cards are unearthed (in Turkey).
Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com
That The Black Waters of Echo's Pond is receiving a theatrical release without being a remake or studio-financed is an achievement in itself. It's just too bad the finished product couldn't be of higher quality.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jason C

I want to say The Black Waters Of Echo's Pond is worth seeing, but for the normal moviegoer I'd say no. No one has been invested in making it a better than an almost really good movie. The Black Waters Of Echo's Pond starts out really weak. Painfully bad. It had a… More
I want to say The Black Waters Of Echo's Pond is worth seeing, but for the normal moviegoer I'd say no. No one has been invested in making it a better than an almost really good movie. The Black Waters Of Echo's Pond starts out really weak. Painfully bad. It had a really small budget, and quickly showed, along with costumes. The mediocre actors/characters are introduced, and it looks like it's going nowhere fast, but then it starts moving along. The game gets more intriguing, and the actors become more involved. It actually picks up a good pace, and kept my attention. Then there was a creative little ending, that could have been better, but closed the movie just fine. Quite a few things were wrong, though. Although there were a couple of characters who were familiar, there wasn't that one who stood out. Some of the dialogue was tacky. The thing that really made the movie fail was the lack of scares. Poorly done. They got the eerie feeling right, but they didn't follow through with making me jump. The, hands down, best thing about The Black Waters Of Echo's Pond was the cinematography and photography direction. Wonderfully done. It doesn't do exactly that much if you don't have either a top notch director or writer. If you're a horror fan, or want to see a near good movie, The Black Waters is worth seeing. Otherwise it's a near miss.

Cast

            Robert Patrick as Peter

            Danielle Harris as Kathy

            Sean Lawlor as Charles

            James Duval as Rick

            Nick Mennell as Josh

            Mircea Monroe as Veronique

            Arcadiy Golubovich as Anton

            Electra Avellan as Renee

            Elise Avellan as Erica

            Walker Howard as Trent

            M.D. Walton as Robert

            Declan Joyce as Danny

            Nitsa Benchetrit as Florence

            Adamo Palladino as Niegel

            Jason Loughridge as Cling

            Richard Tyson as Nicholas

            Steve Eoff as The Butler

            Julia Stensland as The Maid #1

            Tom Proctor as Thomas

            Kurt Carley as The Pan

            Melissa Barker as Innkeeper

            Moksha McPherin as Retaliation

            Moksha McPherrin as Retaliation

            Natalie Stone as Grudge

            Isabella Cascarano as Unnamable

            Nader Elnaka as Boy in Cave
See full cast