Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys (2014)

**_Another take on the original “Piranha,” but with lampreys (eel-like creatures)_**

A town in Michigan is threatened when myriad aggressive lampreys infest the reservoir and get into the water system. Jason Brooks & Shannen Doherty play the main protagonists with Ciara Hanna as their daughter, Nicholas Adam Clark as her beau and Zack Ward as a Fish & Wildlife worker. Christopher Lloyd is also on hand as the mayor.

“Blood Lake” (2014), sometimes subtitled “Attack of the Killer Lampreys,” is a creature feature very similar to “Piranha” (1978/1995), but with bits of other flicks like “Beware, the Blob” (1972), “Squirm” (1976) and “Night of the Creeps” (1986). While this is a production from The Asylum, it’s pretty much on par with those films, disregarding the heavy use of cartoonish CGI. The original “Piranha” (1978) is easily the best of the bunch and should be one’s first choice.

The trailer makes it seem like “Blood Lake” is more comedic than it is, but actually has the same tone as “Piranha,” which means mostly serious with a few bits of humor thrown in, such as the creative fate of Lloyd’s character. Despite being a TV production, the principles take the material serious and give it their all. Brooks makes for a great protagonist, Doherty looks good at 42 during shooting, and Ciara Hanna is winsome enough.

The film runs 1 hour, 27 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles County, particularly Santa Clarita, which is located in the high country just north of L.A., as well as Long Beach. The problem is that most of the locations don’t look like Michigan, but rather SoCal. The aridness and mountains are a dead giveaway. In one scene they forgot to switch the license plate of the Fish & Wildlife truck.

GRADE: C