Review of Eden Lake (2008) by Andrew D — 04 Jan 2017

Highly intense, engaging, restrained, and effective thriller with an emotional punch. Impressively shot and acted with a moody score by David Julyan. Director James Watkins takes his time to build characters and tension, then throws you into an impossible situation to escape from. There are brilliant moments and smart jumps. The violence isn't gratuitous but it is still shocking and brutal. The director is a clever manipulator, causing you to root for the couple and hate the kids.

Although it's somewhat derivative and coincidental and the ending isn't as gratifying as I wanted it to be, even though it's haunting and (mostly) makes sense.

If you like dark horror films that are ordeals that cause you to cringe and yell at the characters, it doesn't get much better than this.

8.5/10.