Directed by:
James WatkinsScreenplay:
James WatkinsCinematography:
Christopher RossComposer:
David JulyanCast:
Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Jack O'Connell, Finn Atkins, Bronson Webb, Thomas Turgoose, Tara Ellis, Alyssa Cooper, Thomas Gill, Eliza Elkington (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Nursery teacher Jenny and her boyfriend Steve escape for a romantic weekend away. Steve, planning to propose, has found an idyllic setting: a remote lake enclosed by woodlands and seemingly deserted. The couple's peace is shattered when a gang of obnoxious kids encircles their campsite. Reveling in provoking the adults, the gang steals the couple's belongings and vandalizes their car leaving them completely stranded. When Steve confronts them, tempers flare and he suffers a shocking and violent attack. Fleeing for help, Jenny is subject to a brutal and relentless game of cat-and-mouse as she desperately tries to evade her young pursuers and find her way out of the woods. Exhausted and distraught, she finally arrives back to the safety of the town. And meets the parents. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (9)
Every horror fan should sit up and take notice, this is the gem many of us have been waiting for in vain all this year – a very intense and disturbing experience. The trodden basic storyline of a couple in the woods who run into psychopaths that want to hurt them is portrayed in such way that it feels incredibly realistic, making you wonder whether you haven’t recently read about something similar in a newspaper. In many films I end up rooting for the villains, at least in part (especially in slashers), but Eden Lake made me literally wish for a happy ending or at least a properly cruel punishment for the underage ruffians. Really, I don’t have any major complaints. The ending is good, the torture scenes have the effect they are supposed to have, and the heroes are almost surprisingly likeable. Basically, Eden Lake is a slasher enriched by a lot of exploitation elements that cements the exceptional position of modern European horror (that beautifully incorrect scene by the campfire could never be made in America today).
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Brats! I also give the film three average stars for the fact that this (more or less) variation on Peckinpah's classic Straw Dogs moves along quickly and for the excellent Kelly Reilly, whom I knew only from her "cool" costume roles in Pride and Prejudice or Sherlock Holmes. But that's all I was captivated by in Eden Lake. It didn't even scare me.
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I would describe Eden Lake as a similar derivative of Estonia's The Class, with a point opposite to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. As with The Class, this film kept me wondering throughout if this was possible – where the hell is justice. The harsh fact is that this is what happens, and more and more often, which is as startling as the ending of the film. And one of the final phrases, that they are just kids, is as shocking as the brutal practices of the teenagers in the film. In short, a film that I can understand some will cover their eyes at, but for me it stood up pretty solidly as a representative of "one of the most provocative and terrifying films of the year."
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Eden Lake is a very intense experience that cannot be recommended to everyone because it's simply not suitable for the faint-hearted. Yes, towards the end, it becomes a bit overdone and perhaps unnecessarily concludes the way it does. However, as long as the film unfolds in the forest, it is truly oppressive and intense. People are monsters, and even though the film is purely fictional, you easily realize that something similar could happen. Justice is just an assumption; only family and an eye for an eye exist. A pretty dark message.
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A trip to a lake turns into a fight for survival when a loving couple pisses off a bunch of local teenagers. An unoriginal but very impressive and suspenseful film that people with weaker stomachs may not be able to handle, but fans of the British new wave of horror will definitely be very satisfied.
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