Take six randy 'twenty-somethings' on a camping trip, add an unseen killer and a lot of suspects and what do you get? Probably a pretty standard horror-mystery, right? Okay, now make it 'six randy lesbians' and what do you get? Sadly, in the case of Make a Wish, basically the same product.

The outline of the story should be familiar to anyone who's seen anything remotely like this before. Basically, six girls have been invited out on a camping trip by Susan (Moynan King, looking a lot less like Charlotte Rampling than she does on the DVD cover) in order to celebrate her birthday. Among their ranks, they include a variety of social and filmic stereotypes; there's the combative African-American vegan (who will naturally be the first to die); the ditzy, New Age, Wicca girl (Hollace Starr); the 'rich bitch' (Amanda Spain, seeming like she's trying to channel Lindsay Lohan off the Mean Girls poster - I swear; compare the two, and you'll be amazed); the ladies woman (Virginia Baeta, creepily resembling my high school French teacher); the now 'straight' girl ; and, finally, the non-descript sixth girl who only exists to be killed as a pre-credits attention-getter.

Once Susan, her four ex-girlfriends, and Rich Girl (Slutty Girlâ's current girlfriend) assemble, they head off into the wilderness for the weekend of fun that hanging out with cheating exes is sure to provide. As the weekend wears on, it quickly becomes apparent that pathos-laden arguments, fishing, alluring sunbathing, and hiking are not the only things going on; the girls are slowly being killed one by one and, to quote the immortal Plan 9 From Outer Space, "somebody's responsible." So, who's killing the girls? Could it be the creepy redneck Susan rejected earlier in the film? The psychopath who recently escaped from a mental institution? The bumbling idiot claiming to be the detective looking for said psychopath? Susan herself, getting revenge on all of the women who've cheated on her in the past? The jealous boyfriend of the 'straight girl,' worried she will 'backslide?' George W. Bush, whose Crawford ranch was only 60 miles from the shooting location? Whatever the case, (s)he goes about it very slowly, and things start to drag until the film's only-kinda-plausible surprise conclusion.

The biggest problem with Make a Wish seems to be that it believes a change in sexuality will somehow make its cliches less hoary. Sadly, this is not the case, and so we're left to suffer through all sorts of wanderings off alone and bizarre rationalizations for why certain members of the group have been missing for a day or two.

However, methinks I've been a little too hard so far though, so now I'd like to address some of the film's positive qualities, for there were many things I did like. Direction, it should be said, is professional and has produced a good-looking product (complete with a few particularly beautiful shot compositions), especially considering the time restraints the production was under. The chemistry between the actresses is also worth note, as each one shows herself capable of giving a good performance and of being, in her own way, charming enough to generate interest from the audience. The fact that some actual sex and nudity have been thrown in is also a plus, for, as many of David DeCoteau's recent productions have shown, films that don't wear their sexuality on their sleeves and give their niche audience what it wants end up pleasing no one entirely.

So there are a fair amount of plusses to the film, enough to make it at least recommendable, as long as you know to expect a rather standard slasher outing. It's all about perspective, I guess, so don't expect too much and you'll probably end up pleasantly surprised, at least on some counts.

As for presentation, Wolfe has put together a fine package for the film, which is presented in anamorphic widescreen and looks nice, bearing only a few minor blemishes. Also of note presentation-wise is the fact that this is one of the few disks I've ever seen from a smaller company that includes closed-captions. I found this really nice, and was glad that Wolfe had had the foresight to take deaf lesbians into account in preparing this presentation. Hopefully, more companies will begin to consider their hearing-impaired consumers in the near future.

Extra-wise, we get trailers for other lesbian films from Wolfe, the trailer for Make a Wish, four ho-hum behind-the-scenes make-up-footage easter eggs, and a brief interview with director Sharon Ferranti, who talks a little about the details of the production and apologizes to 'breast women' that the only nude scenes in the film feature flat-chested women.

Finally, the package is finished off with a commentary, also by Ferranti, that is interesting as a window into the genesis of some of the film's faults. Ferranti's description of the film ranges from it being a straight horror film to a parody, which is kind of vexing. At some points Ferranti seems to be excusing her charactersâ lame-brained actions by the fact that "it's just a B-horror picture," while at others she claims that their foolishness constitutes satire. This led me to think that perhaps this was the problem with the film: it was never quite sure what it was. If Ferranti was going for parody, she should have made it much less subtle, for, while the characters in here do do stupid things, I've seen plenty of 'serious' slasher films where characters take even dumber courses of action. Similarly, if she wanted to make it a straight out, ovaries-to-the-wall lesbian horror picture (Lesbian Texas Chainsaw Massacre sure does sound marketable...), she should have worked harder at making it more plausible. As it stands, Make a Wish delivers an uneasy compromise between laughter and chills that leads to it really delivering neither.

In the end, sadly, I can't recommend Make a Wish as much as I figured I would have liked to. While it is well-produced and acted, it's held back from being much more than another rather standard slasher entry by its cookie-cutter plot. If you're interested in seeing the same old horror scenarios acted out by lesbians instead of heterosexuals, it's worth a try; however, those truly seeking innovative 'queer horror' (or just horror in general) will have to keep waiting.