Now available on DVD
Cast:
Kelly Reilly as Jenny
Michael Fassbender as Steve
Tara Ellis as Abi
Jack O’Connell as Brett
Finn Atkins as Paige
Jumayn Hunter as Mark
Thomas Turgoose as Cooper
James Burrows as Harry
Directed by James Watkins
Review:
With Eden Lake, writer/director James Watkins takes the familiar survivalist horror template and molds it into a social commentary on the poor state of British youth. His film is nihilistic and shockingly violent. The well-shot thriller boasts a good cast and lots of suspense, but culminates in a controversial ending that can only be loved or hated.
Kindergarten teacher Jenny and her boyfriend Steve drive to an idyllic lake in the British backwoods to spend a romantic weekend. Their peaceful retreat goes awry when a group of local hooligan teens start harassing them. Determined not to let their trip be spoiled, the couple tries to ignore the kids’ hijinks at first. But what began as naughty pranks soon escalates into a fight for survival. Led by a sadistic bully named Brett, the young thugs steal the couple’s car and leave them stranded in the woods. When an angry Steve and the teenagers clash in a bloody confrontation, Jenny flees on foot with the delinquents in close pursuit.
The first thirty minutes of exposition and character development are slow, but thereafter the film is efficiently paced. Eden Lake is more suspenseful than most films in the survivalist horror genre, and it is equally brutal. At first, the teenaged menace may seem a bit implausible, but as events unfold, we start to believe just how twisted and terrifying a young mind can be. Most of us remember that feeling of sheer vulnerability inflicted by a childhood bully, and this film utilizes that inherent memory to evoke fear in the audience. The result is a brutally realistic scenario that you could imagine coming true. The script ultimately steps into downright disturbing territory and does not relent. You won’t soon forget the fire scene.
The film’s plot surely hits closer to home for residents of the United Kingdom, where these hooded terrors â known as “Chavs” â are a common occurrence. Since real stories like this one have appeared in British newspapers, the marketing team behind Eden Lake probably could have used the “Based on a True Story” tag like all the other survivalist horrors. Thankfully, they did not sink that low. Watkins does inject some social commentary into the film, targeting poor parenting and the education system for allowing the country’s youth to become so warped.
Most of the movie takes place in the woods, a familiar but effective setting. The chavs have home-field advantage here and all their nasty activities are hidden from the adult world. David Julyan’s musical score is not very prominent, except in the occasional chase scene, as the natural sounds of the woods dominate the soundtrack. As for the gore, Paul Hyett’s makeup FX are fairly straight-forward yet staggeringly realistic. But some of the film’s most effectively horrific scenes are implied rather than shown.
Michael Fassbender and Kelly Reilly are very good as the tormented British couple, especially the latter, who takes on the obligatory role of a blood-soaked, ass-kicking heroine. But the real scene-stealer is Jack O’Connell who plays Brett. At only 19, this actor is intense and terrifying. All the young characters are loutish brats, but ringleader Brett is the one with a vicious temper and is arguably insane. He is purely an evil character, a realistic villain lacking in mercy and remorse. Never before have I so badly wanted to see a child get beaten to death! Harsh, but trust me, Brett deserves it.
The biggest downfall of Eden Lake is with its conclusion. I am probably in the minority who dislike the film’s ending, but it is simply too anti-climactic. A horror movie like this demands a sense of retribution and relief, but the viewer gets no such thing. Without this, the movie takes on a one-dimensional pattern that repeats over and over from beginning to end, evoking only one emotion in the audience instead of a satisfying range. The gritty 60-minute build-up was enjoyable, but this movie needed a good climax. Watkins was clearly aiming for social commentary in his final act, but this was redundant as the rest of the movie had already made that commentary very obvious. I typically enjoy an unconventional ending, but this one is too much about shock value and not enough about telling a fulfilling story.
Nevertheless, Eden Lake excels in being suspenseful and well-paced, two of the most important – and difficult to achieve – qualities in a horror film. For that reason, I look forward to James Watkins’ next gig as a director. Though unfortunately not behind the lens, he is a writer on the upcoming sequel to The Descent. Given the bleak ending of the first film, I think Watkins will be aptly suited to write the sequel.
