What an original concept! A family of inbred hillbillies living in the middle of nowhere like to brutally kill people. Gosh, what genius came up with this brilliant idea? No one's ever made a movie like this before!

Folks, I don't mind telling you that I am sick and tired of this whole hillbilly family subgenre of horror. It was bad enough when such brainless duds as Wrong Turn were tarnishing the image of horror, but Lake Dead is made even more unbearably awful by the fact that this stupid idea has now been thoroughly done to death and then some. I do appreciate the filmmakers casting some attractive women in the film -- but gee whiz, at least have the gumption of coloring a little outside the lines when making a cheap paint-by-numbers rip-off film like this one. Even if you've never even heard of Lake Dead, believe me when I say you've already seen it -- that's how unoriginal and derivative it is.

It's so simple, even a caveman could have written and directed it. Take that as you will, writer Daniel P. Coughlin and director George Bessudo.

Brielle Lake (Kelsey Crane) and her sisters Kelly (Kelsey Wedeen) and Sam (Tara Gerard) are surprised to learn that their grandfather has died, especially since they had been told he died many years ago. Their nonexistent grief quickly turns into a bit of excitement when they learn that they've inherited a hotel from this granddad they never knew. They decide to invite some friends and make a vacation out of their trip to see the old place -- well, except for Sam, who sobers up long enough to drive up there by herself.

Their estranged, alcoholic father begs them not to go, but they aren't about to listen to anything he says. If he had told them the real story of the family he ran away from, they probably wouldn't have listened, but I still think he should have mentioned the fact that his first cousins look like the GEICO cavemen. Anyway, the young folks arrive at the dump of a hotel, there's some pointless sex and nudity, and then the killing begins. It's all utterly predictable.

By and large, the acting in this film isn't quite as awful as I expected it to be. That -- and the fact that the girls aren't bad looking -- is about the only good thing I can say about Lake Dead.