City couple Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve (Michael Fassbender) are eager to get away from it all. The idyllic, picturesque surroundings of Eden Lake seems like a perfect spot for a secluded, romantic weekend in the country until they realise the remote woodland isn't as deserted as they'd originally hoped. Soon their paths cross with a gang of local youths, who begin a campaign of terror on the couple. Suddenly the weekend begins to evolve into a sadistic game of survival and escalating violence, with a surprising and shocking climax.
The UK answer to Funny games - Eden Lake is an intense and provocative horror/thriller that relentlessly feeds on modern fears and crosses over into territory that most contemporary films wouldn't dare to tread. Visit at your own risk.
Agent Billy Brown-Dargan
Gritty. Eden Lake started off boring, and as it went along it seemed to drag on and on, but eventually - after about an hour - it started getting exciting. There were a few instances where the film was too predictable, cancelling out the scary atmosphere from the previous tension-building moments. The film is very familiar, in a sense that some scenes were cliché. The deaths were brutal and quick, and some scenes made me cringe at the carnage. The ending was jaw-droppingly fantastic. It was pretty realistic, but shocking just the same.
The plot was about surviving at all odds, and it was successful in drawing me in, but it failed to keep my attention. The first hour had some intriguing moments, but it just dragged on a lot of the time, and that was disappointing. The character work was good, but I would've liked to have had a little expansion on some of the leads.
The acting was average. There was key scenes in the movie in which Kelly Reilly shone, for example when she was in agony. I thought that the lead characters should've been a bit younger, which would've made it more appealing, but on second thought, that would somewhat ruin the realistic factor that makes the film enjoyable.
Overall Eden Lake is a survival thriller that is brutally realistic, but drags on for the first hour.
The horror, thriller, UK movie Eden Lake is directed by James Watkins and stars Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Jack O'Connell.
R 18+ (High impact violence)
87 minutes (1:27 hours)
Disc rental: 9 September 2009
Disc retail: 9 December 2009
