Common Sense Media Review
By Tara McNamara
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Provocative is the point in lurid, drug-filled sex thriller.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Bone Lake
What's the Story?
When their vacation rental at BONE LAKE turns out to be double-booked, couples Sage (Maddie Hasson) and Diego (Marco Pigossi) and Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita) agree to share the large house for the weekend. The couples bond over drinks, games, and frolicking at the lake, but something sinister seems to be lurking underneath the surface.
Is It Any Good?
Tackling taboo topics with a clever wink to viewers' intelligence, director Mercedes Bryce Morgan delivers a bonanza of bonkers with this darkly comic thriller. She demands that viewers examine their own behavior, working from a provocative, self-aware script by Joshua Friedlander that aims to shock on all levels. The camera lingers as it passes down the body of a nude, conventionally attractive female corpse, taunting you: Are you aroused? If so, what is wrong with you? Or: You laugh and clap at outrageous violence? Then how about an arrow through a scrotum—is that extreme enough for you? And that steamy sex scene you were just taking in? Ooof, get ready. Don't trust the director, because she does not trust you.
And trust is the name of the game that's being played over the course of the film: Do you trust that the couples are being honest with each other? With themselves? With you, the audience? The movie's final moment, reminiscent of The Graduate, has those left standing staring straight ahead, contemplating what they've just experienced—and likely mirroring viewers' reaction, too.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what Bone Lake has to say about over-the-top graphic sex and violence in film, literature, and art. What shocking images and situations did it portray? Does the movie's satirical edge lessen the impact of its content?
How does the film address expectations of gender roles? Does it subvert stereotypes?
How are drinking and drug use depicted? Are they glamorized? Why does that matter?
Talk about the fact that the idea of trust is so prominent that it's practically the film's fifth character. What role does it play? The filmmaker intentionally never makes it clear, but do you think Diego or Sage cheated? How does this doubt play into the trust you have in the film you watched?
What is meant by the statement from Will and Cin: "Everyone is playing their own game by their own rules, but they don't tell you what the rules are"?
Movie Details
- In theaters : October 3, 2025
- On DVD or streaming : October 24, 2025
- Cast : Maggie Hasson , Alex Roe , Marco Pigossi
- Director : Mercedes Bryce Morgan
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s) , Queer Movie Director(s) , Latino Movie Director(s) , Latino Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Bleecker Street
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings )
- Run time : 94 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : strong bloody violence, grisly images, sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout and some drug use
- Last updated : October 23, 2025
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