The Friday the 13th connection to this film is wildly overstated. This movie takes place at a lake, there's a cabin, and people die. Other than that, there's only really one plot point and one camera shot patterned off of Friday the 13th -- it's pretty far from a remake or a ripoff as a whole. That said, the purported connection got my attention, and that's probably the point. The movie was worth my time, and I fully forgive the marketing ruse.
We follow three bad guys diving for treasure in a remote lake. Barry Prima is one of the strapping young lads -- he was pretty new to film here, but went on to become a ubiquitous presence in Indonesian action cinema. Two lovely young women and a nerdy guy show up to camp out at the lake. The head bad guy tries to nudge them away, but they stay. Stormy weather and mutual attraction draw the two camps together suggestively, but still chaste (to keep the Indonesian censors at bay).
A mysterious third party shows up to complicate matters with a speed boat chase and violence. For good measure, there are campy zombies on hand that made me think of Jean Rollin's Zombie Lake in the best possible way. It's not all schlock, and it's not all serious, either. I enjoyed the tone.
The 2023 release from Terror Vision is a top-notch restoration with excellent cast and crew interviews. Old, badly-cropped VHS of this can finally be retired. It's almost certainly never looked better, excepting (maybe) the premiere.
