Missing a horror pic like Eden Lake is an unusual event for me, but for whatever reason, it took me four more years to even pick it up on video. Regretful to this day, I put on the disc on my player, watched the movie and then let myself be astound.
There'd be cliches cluttered around, specifically when characters do things no one in his healthy state of mind would do. But what's left is all impressive direction, excellent acting, gut-wrenching gore and mind-bending suspense.
Enter Jenny (Kelly Reilly, Sherlock Holmes; After Miss Julie) and her beau Steve (Michael Fassbender, Prometheus) on a trip to Eden Lake for a weekend getaway. The couple arrives in the location and settles for a bit. A group of unlikely children suddenly ridicules their stay by the lake: messing with Steve's tires, booming music through their box and having their resident and only fauna of the bunch, Bonnie, a rottweiler, poop near the couple.
Second visit. Jenny and Steve tries to come back with the thought that the kids might no longer be around. Soon enough, the couple finds themselves robbed, "car keys, cell phone, wallet". Them kids apparently are still the suspects, and as a confrontation was built up (Steve asks the kids to give his stuff back), Bonnie, leader Brett's dog, was incidentally stabbed. This leads the couple terrorized by the children, lost in the woods.
There's better direction and acting in this Brit-horror when compared with resembling pic Wolf Creek. James Watkins' direction services the movie very well, making decisions that will eventually pay big. As the confrontation intensifies, with Jenny and Steve, and among other children, you are suspended in a state of anticipation. Clearly Hitchcock is the inspiration with this element, in a sense, at least.
When the couple is terrorized by the children, and as the intensity heightens, the audience is gripped, waiting for at least one of these kids stand up to Brett and tell him he's gone too far. Kelly Reilly is easily sweet, so you will care for her survival; Fassbender is always a keeper in terms of acting, 'nuff said. Jack O'Connell is as effective as one can be, playing the lead of the unlikely kids who terrorizes the couple.
The pic, mainly displaying of what is the worst case scenario of parents molesting kids, couldn't help but adhere to the convention most standard horrors do to. As we approach the end of the pic however, the scare still remains. Nonetheless, it's a real easy statement to say: Eden Lake is perhaps one of the best Brit horrors made in years.
OWN IT ON VIDEO AND BLU-RAY!
GRADE: A-
When the couple is terrorized by the children, and as the intensity heightens, the audience is gripped, waiting for at least one of these kids stand up to Brett and tell him he's gone too far. Kelly Reilly is easily sweet, so you will care for her survival; Fassbender is always a keeper in terms of acting, 'nuff said. Jack O'Connell is as effective as one can be, playing the lead of the unlikely kids who terrorizes the couple.
The pic, mainly displaying of what is the worst case scenario of parents molesting kids, couldn't help but adhere to the convention most standard horrors do to. As we approach the end of the pic however, the scare still remains. Nonetheless, it's a real easy statement to say: Eden Lake is perhaps one of the best Brit horrors made in years.
OWN IT ON VIDEO AND BLU-RAY!
GRADE: A-
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