The House by the Lake–far more commonly known as Death Weekend–is a Canadian horror film from 1976. Known as part of the “Canuxploitation” genre (which is a thing, apparently), it’s a home invasion outing cut from the same cloth as (in)famous titles such as I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left, although it’s much, much tamer. The movie has a fair number of fans, but I’m not sure if it has enough of a following to be considered a “cult classic.” For one thing, it’s fucking hard to find. It never had a physical media release except in Germany, for whatever reason, but can be found in pretty random places online (I myself watched it in its entirety on YouTube a few years ago).

So…why am I talking about it? To tell you all to go out of your way to find a movie where the main villain looks like a strange cross between Jack Black and Jack Nicholson? No, it’s because the trailer for the American release is fucking hilarious. It straight-up lies about the film’s plot and tries to sell it as a supernatural chiller centered around an evil house. An evil house by the lake, if you will. A house so evil that it takes possession of all who enter it, and forces them to commit unspeakable acts of horror. It even lies about the two main characters, claiming they’re a couple “off to play house” for the death weekend, when in reality it’s about some rich dentist (or oral surgeon? I dunno) who’s taking his girlfriend to his place in the hopes of getting to fourth base with her. Then a bunch of jerks show up, or maybe they’re actually really nice guys, and they just got taken over by the evil house’s evil house intentions. Maybe the lake is evil too.

Have a safe night AWAY from the house by the lake, y’all!