Critique of the gay thriller Autour du lac (Birder in the original version)
Critique of the gay thriller Autour du lac (Birder in the original version) by Nate Dushku with the feverish Michael Emery. An independent film that evokes L’inconnu du lac.
A dark and singular atmosphere
It is a small film obviously made with few resources but which has a very dark and singular atmosphere that makes it leave its mark. Autour du lac is a bit like if L’inconnu du lac was filmed from the point of view of the killer.
A potential serial killer
The film does not make a mystery: from the start we understand that its main character, Kristian (Michael Emery), an ornithologist who will spend a few days in a naturist camp around an isolated lake in New Hampshire, is twisted. We will finally understand that he is a real potential serial killer and the deaths may accumulate at the camp where he will stay.
Eroticism and danger
Kristian has understood how to attract his gay prey into his nets: he has built himself a muscular body that he proudly displays, he masters cerebral domination, knows how to play verbally to tease those around him. And more than ever here the little death will be linked to the real death in disturbing scenes that mix furious and gently kinky eroticism and great danger.
A singular gay thriller
If gay cruising has already inspired the gay thriller genre several times and for once this film by Nate Dushku does not particularly shine by its formal audacity, it nevertheless has its own personality. The whole is unpretentious, modest, well executed and can count on the charm of its main actor who manages to fascinate and disturb more and more as the film progresses. We desire him and he terrifies us at the same time.
While the naturist camp at first glance presents itself as a hedonistic, liberating, open space, it will become a crime scene but also reflect the loneliness, insecurities, doubts, of gays less happy than they think. The gay hunt of bodies mixes with a fatal hunt and Autour du lac counts among its qualities an unpredictable side that keeps you on edge until its last scene. The uncompromising darkness of the project and its cerebral erotic thriller side make it a beautiful curiosity.
Practical information
Film produced in 2023. Available on VOD and on Queerscreen.
I found the comparison between Autour du lac and L’inconnu du lac interesting, especially the idea of focusing on the killer’s perspective. The description of Kristian’s manipulative tactics and the tension between eroticism and danger gives the story an unsettling edge, which I think suits the film’s atmosphere.