Several coeds retreat for some fun-in-the-sun at a vacation home in the backwoods of central Florida. Unfortunately, there's a weird guy lurking about and suspicious things start happening.

"Crazy Lake" (2016) is a dynamic-yet-traditional cabin-in-the-woods slasher that meshes "Bread Crumbs" (2011) and "The Lake on Clinton Road" (2015) with the common tropes of the Friday the 13th films. While only costing $285,000, it does not smack of a "student project," as one critic called it (I don't think he's seen too many micro-budget flicks). Sure, the cast members are all no-names, but the writing/acting is convincing enough and the filmmaking is proficient. The movie doesn't try to reinvent the wheel and doesn't need to; it simply entertains within the framework of its subgenre.

Someone complained that the protagonists are an obnoxious bunch that "deserve to die," but that's not true. They're typical youths out celebrating on the weekend or school break. We've all done it and we were all likely "annoying" when we did it.

Someone else lamented the flick as "soft porn" because of the "almost no clothing" but, gee, they're involved in vacation activities like swimming and slip-sliding, which necessitate swim attire. It is true that there's a strip poker sequence but, again, it's not like this isn't something common youths might do when they're in party mode on Spring Break or what have you. If potential viewers don't think they can handle such a sequence, I suggest staying away.

Dark-haired Keily Fernandez stands out in the female department, followed by blonde Skyler Joy. There are a couple of other notables. The director has a good eye for depicting feminine beauty and keeping it fun without getting too tasteless.

At the end of the day the movie works for what it is. It contains all the requisite staples of the genre and works them into an entertaining stew that doesn't overstay its welcome. You won't figure out the story until the final 15 minutes and, even then, there's a small surprise or two (although I would've done the end-credits sequence differently if I wrote the script). It's superior to the cartoonish "The Evil Dead" (1981),the over-the-top comical "Evil Dead II" (1987),the trashy "Cabin Fever" (2002),the lame "Zombeavers" (2014) and the too-creative-for-its-own-good "Cabin in the Woods" (2012).

The film runs 1 hour, 20 minutes, and was shot in the boonies at Brooksville, Florida, about a 40-minute drive north of Tampa.

GRADE: B.

The film opens with background information and story. The government would take crazy people, tie concrete blocks to them and watch them "float to the bottom." Not sure why, but that is the back story as a bunch of hard body teens head to the proverbial cabin in the woods by the lake. We already know the killer is a guy named Harry (Tom Latimer). At 45 minutes into the film, we know there is an added dimension coming.

This is an 80's style slasher film. It has plenty of killing with a blade and lots of blood, but it is light on the gore special effects. It has the typical 80's nudity, a short lived strip poker game, and creepy caretaker. We also can easily figure out the "final girl." I liked it as good throwback entertainment. The dialogue was fine. Filler material included adults using a slip and slide which can only look fun in slow motion and bikinis. The film formula was missing the stop at the crazy local store owner played by either Sid Haig or Michael Berryman.

The copy of "Crazy Lake" that I viewed had "Ripper Lake" as the title. Need to work on that.

Guide: F-word. Nudity (Skyler Joy, Allis Bodziak, and thank you Libby Blanton) If you step on a rusty item that punctures the foot, a tetanus shot is normally in order. Just saying, but I'm not a doctor. I just played one growing up.

This movie is fully based around the female assets. Half the movie is slow motion on one or all of the females while they are half naked. The story, if there really is one, is trampled by the continuous close up and slow motion of every half or more naked female in the movie. I cannot really say the acting is good because they don't spend much time acting, they spend more time parading around in almost no clothing. If you want porn, go find a real one. If you are looking for an actual movie, look somewhere else.