Review of Cherry Tree Lane (2010) by Patrick E — 05 Dec 2010

The Home Invasion sub-genre can be a make for a very effective horror film if done right due its gritty realism and the notion that it could theoretically happen to any one of us at any time. Cherry Tree Lane is a UK entry into the genre that has some effective moments but ultimately disappoints due to a serious amount of padding.

Christine and Michael are your normal everyday married couple who are sitting down to dinner after a hard day's work. Unfortunately for them, three local teenage boys burst into their home, beat Michael up badly and tape him up as well as tapping up Christine. They claim the couple's son has ratted out one of their cousins and they are waiting in the house to slit his throat. It's up to the parents to think of a way to save their son.

The opening half an hour is excellent; the two main characters are perfectly developed as being a married couple who are having troubles in their relationship. The attack is excellently filmed as the youths burst into the house and subdue the two of them before settling down to their waiting game. It's the utterly calm manner in which they orchestrate the attack which is the most chilling and it's portrayed very realistically. The next half hour is where the film struggles as the pace slows to down to a crawl as our kidnappers hold conversations among themselves. It picks up again in the last act as one of the attackers takes a liking to the wife and the son comes home forcing the father to try and save the day. The acting is quite strong from all involved and the realistic plot works very well in patches but it's the mid section that drags the film down and leaves it being just an average home invasion film.

Certainly disturbing at times due to its subject matter, Cherry Tree Lane is a film with both good and bad parts and ends being a worthy entry to the home invasion sub genre. It's quite frightening to think that this kind of situation could happen to any one of us at any time.