Theatrical Review: Eden Lake
Eden Lake (2008)
Studio: Optimum Releasing
Theatrical Release Date: Sept 12, 2008 (UK)
Directed By: James Watkins
Cast: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Jack O’Connell
Deadly DVD Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Review By: Benjamin Bussey
When a young couple from the city take a weekend break to a secluded beauty spot in the country, little do they suspect the horrors that await them…. And from that succinct but accurate synopsis, you’d be forgiven for thinking Eden Lake offered nothing new. But writer/director James Watkins (co-writer of 2002 Brit-horror My Little Eye, making his directorial debut here) has an ace up his sleeve; his choice of antagonists.
Oftentimes, the horror genre speaks in metaphor. Ghosts, demons, vampires, zombies: these and all the others have been used to represent any number of oblique meanings over the centuries, allowing us to explore our anxieties while providing just enough distance to keep things comfortable. But sometimes, horror decides to say the hell with metaphor, and the hell with the comfort zone: let’s confront the audience directly with the very thing they’re truly afraid of. Such a tale is Eden Lake. It looks, sounds and feels like many a horror movie to come out of the UK in the last decade, with distinct echoes of The Descent in particular (more on that later). But where Neil Marshall’s subterranean masterpiece had flesh eating, wall crawling cave dwellers, the monsters of Eden Lake are unnervingly closer to home: violent teenagers.
The initial set-up may be traditional horror movie fare, but when the scares kick in it’s a scenario that is frighteningly true to life, as the mild-mannered couple (the well-cast Reilly and Fassbender) find themselves targeted by a group of loud-mouthed young yobs. The confrontation escalates with alarming plausibility, and soon the teens are out for blood. Leading the assault is an absolutely chilling performance from Jack O’Connell as gang leader Brett. In a decade when the British tabloids are overflowing with nightmarish reports of teenage knife crime and gang attacks, O’Connell encapsulates perfectly the hoodie hooligan: blunt, sadistic, and incapable of being reasoned with.
Which is not to say that Eden Lake is arch social realism, of course. This is survivalist horror of the classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre variety; and as such, the film occasionally suffers slightly from lapses into cliché. There are a few too many improbable near-misses, and some of the most overused lines of dialogue in genre history – “Go get help!” and “Come on, this way!” – get more than a few looks in. As previously mentioned, the shadow of The Descent falls heavily over proceedings, particularly with David Julyan’s mournful score, the abundance of aerial shots following a 4×4 through woodland, and the blood spattered protagonist on the brink of insanity toward the end. (As such, it’s not surprising and in fact quite encouraging that James Watkins landed the job of writing and directing The Descent Part 2, a sequel I was otherwise quite wary of.)
But Eden Lake is smart enough to avoid cliché when it really counts. While you will be screaming for retribution by the final act, it doesn’t come the way you might be hoping for. The movie packs in as much visceral stimulus as any gorehound could hope for, but the climax brings things back down to earth with a devastating thud. Not content to just get the blood pumping, Eden Lake gets you thinking too; and while there are no easy answers, the finale asks all the right questions.
Those who prefer more light-hearted splatter might want to look elsewhere; otherwise, no self-respecting horror fan should miss Eden Lake. Imagine Neil Marshall directing Jack Ketchum and you’re not far off the mark.
