Eden Lake (2008)

 

Genre: Horror/ Action

Time: 1h 31mins

Director: James Watkins

Quick Summary: When a couple goes to a remote lake for a romantic getaway, their quiet weekend is shattered by an aggressive group of kids. Rowdiness quickly turns to rage as the teens terrorize them, and a weekend outing becomes a battle for survival.

For my own mental well-being, I don't think I can ever watch this again

Many emotions were felt throughout this film and all for separate moments. Mainly I felt frustrated due to the couple's actions throughout the first half of the film as so many of the things that happen could have been avoided if they just moved and not interacted with the kids. Especially one moment where the guy chooses to try and speak to one of the kid's parents; nobody is in the house so he just walks in! Yeah, sure walk into a stranger's house I'm sure nothing will happen.

The rest events in this film are horrific, and it leaves you feeling horrible and disgusted at the end. I actually found this hard to watch at times since this was so brutal. I think what makes this so scary is that it is very true to the UK and how some people are, especially kids in some cases. But the whole film is honestly horrible to think about anyone being in that situation. I know I wouldn't want to be stranded in a massive forest, let alone being chased by violent chavs.

As brutal as this is, the camerawork and the location are stunning. "Eden Lake" is such a pretty lake area and all the scenes before the chaos erupted are so pretty to look at. Even during the rest of the film, as terrifying as the forest is, the camera is set up to capture both the focus and the background in such clever ways.

A lot of things are thrown in like peer pressure, gang mentality, stubbornness, small-town characteristics, strong violence, vandalism, all things that are massive problems within the UK and this basically brings it up to the extreme version. There is real tension and real fear woven into this. Honestly, I was so captivated by the whole film, it grabs you and drags you in. A horrible experience but an equally interesting and entertaining one.

Considering the subject of this, the acting was incredible. It was almost like watching a documentary about the UK it was that believable. Nothing is over the top or dramatised, everything that happens could realistically happen and how people react to things is also realistic (even if they make stupid decisions).

I have one major complaint though and that is the ending. I'm not sure if I liked it or not, as it's definitely not a happy one. It just feels so frustrating. Like with an already bleak and depressing film, it's a massive sucker punch that happens.

This is a good film to watch and I highly recommend it, but be warned it is a difficult watch. Hopefully, this will be recognised as a British classic in years to come as this is terrifyingly true and could potentially happen. 

7/10