Review of Eden Lake (2008) by David B — 14 Jul 2015

Chilling, showing the Americans how it's done!

The Writer of My Little Eye and the producers of The Descent could be accused of scare moungering and fuelling the fire of the average Daily Mail reader as they take a contemporary issue ripped straight from British headlines and amp them up a few notches. Where you sit on this is down to interpretation although there is no denying director James Watkins has crafted a truly terrifying and realistic horror for our times. Although inhabiting a similar feel to Neil Marshall's excellent The Decent aided by David Julyan's similar but no less effective score, Eden Lake requires a lot less suspension of disbelief, as the terror on display is all too real.

When City Couple Jenny and Steve played by Kelly Reilly, recently seen leading alongside Ciaran Hinds in Lynda La Plante's new veichle Above Suspicion as D.C Anna Travis and Michael Fassbender who recently excelled in Steve Mcqueen's Hunger as hunger strike victim Bobby Sands, decide to have a romantic weekend in the picturesque Eden Lake they find the expected secluded spot with a plan for a romantic weekend is not so deserted as they expected. A group of local delinquents led by Brett of UK TV Skin's fame Jack O'Connell, start what is just a simple case of harassment and intimidation and escalates into a terrifying experience for the couple resulting in devastating consequences.

This is not Camp Crystal Lake and Jenny and Steve aren't some selfish couple you can't wait to see terrorised, both Reilly and Fassbender invest their characters with enough humanity, (Steve intends to propose to Jenny during their idyllic weekend) that when the events turn nasty after the couples car is stolen by the gang and results in the death of Brett's pet Rotweiller when Steve defends himself in a attempt to retrieve their car and escape, your empathy for the couple makes the ensuing events including an unsure This Is England's Thomas Turgoose egged on by the sadistic Brett to take a stanley knife to a trussed up and already badly bleeding from numerous wounds inflicted by others in the gang Steve's tongue, witnessed by a hidden terrified Jenny that all more convincing, the time taken to flesh out the couple with some small details gives the actions that sense of real empathy to the viewer otherwise absent in the genre the majority of the time. Jenny is forced to take actions and efforts never contemplated before result in a tragic but violent act that will have consequences as this propels to it's shocking and unexpected climax. The closing frames are particularly chilling.

Watkin's has created a horror movie which puts the 99% of Hollywood horror output to shame, employing the minimum amount of clichés within his script to recall not only The Decent but John Boorman's Deliverance and all within an extremely well used 87 minutes. The gore is effectively used but not extensively and only where necessary. The cast is superb, Fassbender is his usual reliable self but it is Reilly and O'Connell who impress the most. Reilly performance convinces you of her terror and determination, her transformation from city girl to terrified but determined survivor no stretch of the imagination and O'Connell is utterly terrifying and real as the monstrous Brett. Witness him as he orders only female member of the gang Paige (Finn Atkins) to film the torture on his mobile phone recording the sick detail of his deeds. He gives Brett a horrifying sense of the real, yes this person could well exist in the real World all too easily. Although the others of the gang go along with his actions it seems more out of being lost under spell of his overpowering presence, almost suggesting the others are nearly as much victims as the couple of his actions. Paige's intimidation earlier in the film towards Jenny seems nothing in reflection and Brett's actions have got out of control something the rest of the gang is aware but rarely too terrified to challenge.

Turgoose's Cooper's innocence etched on his face and British TV regular Shaun Dooley makes a brief but extremely convincing appearance as Brett's Father making the personality of Brett so depressingly likely, who's off screen actions leave us in a very uncomfortable place and make for a horrific and sobering conclusion.

Watkin's may give the impression this might veer off into Jenny going all First Blood on the gang and in the hopefully not to be commissioned American remake would most likely be too much of a temptation, (witness the U.S ending of The Decent allowing a sequel to be in the making, ironically scripted by Watkins himself) although he is in full control of his goal and thankfully imbues the film with tragedy and realness which very rarely ends up being approached in such a film.

Both Julyan's score and Christopher Ross' cinematography and Jon Harris' editing complement each other so effectively in conveying a sense of unease at the beginning of the film and proceed to ratchet the tension up more and more as it goes on.

Once again like The Descent the Brits show how it is done, considering the output of Hollywood, being it torture porn¸ like The Saw series or Eli Roth's awful Hostel films or their propensity to remake Asian horror films. Watkins and his team have proved what can be achieved with a dose of intelligence and all too real horror.