Eden Lake (DVD)

...of how I felt about Eden Lake; it took me a few days at least to get over the initial shock and emotion felt by watching it. And I have to say that the film I am about to review is like nothing I have seen before.



Eden Lake, is an English film directed by a man called James Watkins, I had never heard of the film nor the director and I was not that enthusiastic about watching it, but after a day moping about alone I wanted ...
...had low expectations of what Eden Lake may offer but I still watched it with an open mind, although if I’m honest I did not read the back properly and I was expecting some cheesy American film which was actually something I wanted, something light hearted, I did not expect the film that I got.



Cast


The cast of this film were not recognisable to me by DVD cover and none of the crew was reputable in my ... more

It took me at least a week to come to a semi conclusion of how I felt about Eden Lake; it took me a few days at least to get over the initial shock and emotion felt by watching it. And I have to say that the film I am about to review is like nothing I have seen before.

Eden Lake, is an English film directed by a man called James Watkins, I had never heard of the film nor the director and I was not that enthusiastic about watching it, but after a day moping about alone I wanted something scary to watch and it was in the horror section of my local movie shop at a price of £4 so I thought I would give it a watch. Sometimes I just crave something to give me a bit of a scare.

Horror films which are genuinely scary are few and far between and it is almost unheard of to find one which gives you more than a few jumps and actually offers a genuine storyline or serge of emotions whilst watching it, armed with this knowledge I had low expectations of what Eden Lake may offer but I still watched it with an open mind, although if I’m honest I did not read the back properly and I was expecting some cheesy American film which was actually something I wanted, something light hearted, I did not expect the film that I got.

Cast

The cast of this film were not recognisable to me by DVD cover and none of the crew was reputable in my mind but once the film had started I did recognise a few faces from smaller roles on television so I have listed some of the characters for the benefit of my review readers

• Kelly Reilly – Jenny

• Michael Fassbender – Steve

• Tara Ellis – Abi

• Jack O’Connell – Brett

• Fin Atkins – Paige

• Thomas Turgoose – Cooper

• James Burrows – Harry

The film does not have a huge amount of characters and for the majority of the film there are only two adults and the rest are children. I discovered this about 30minutes in after the story was really beginning to unfold and I did consider that because the character range was not huge the film this was a real disadvantage.
However, after watching the film I have decided that this small list of characters was much more effective than a huge cast would have been. I found it easy to get to know each character whether I liked them or not it was easy to keep a track on them.

There were points in the film which were fraught with violence and screaming and it was easy to tell the characters apart even in the hectic scenery, I really liked this because even though I felt tense throughout the cast did not complicate things beyond my imagination

What’s it about?

Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender are a couple very much in love, who go on a camping trip for the weekend organised by Michael Fassbender’s character Steve.
He is planning to propose and chooses the romantic location of a flooded quarry as the perfect location. The beginning of the film starts with them meeting and taking the long drive to a Beautiful place called Eden Lake which they have to trespass onto by sneaking through the gates and into the woodland.

Typical right? A horror film set in the middle of nowhere is hardly original; I was disappointed that the director of the film could not come up with something more original. But then halfway through the film I realised it was the only way, and it was a really good idea.

The couple are soon interrupted by a group of young teenagers led by a thuggish looking hoodie called Brett.
At the beginning , the gang of children look to be nothing more than a harmless group of mouthy teenagers with a bit of attitude, the sort you can be irritated by but usually just ignore. When they were introduced into the film I found it really hard to see where the story would take these children and was starting to actually consider switching the film off and starting new one.

However I gave the film an extra five minutes, in those minutes the group of unruly children turn into a cruel and violent knife toting gang who get the young couple running for their lives into the woodlands and the film becomes one of the most violent and shocking that I have ever seen.
The rest of the film follows the couples struggle to try to get out of the woodlands alive, and the hardest thing of all, into the arms of safety.

Okay, so it doesn’t sound like the basis for a brilliant Oscar winner, but the idea of the film is very simple and actually a quite clever way for us to be able to look into the shocking world of children and teenagers. The scariness and the horror in the film comes from the idea that innocent children can be violent and murderous and control adults, when really its adults that should feel in control

The film also incorporates very real aspects of that which is going on in the world at the moment, that which we read in the papers every day. Themes like knife crime, teenage rebellion, and reckless children and also more sickening subjects like filming violence on mobile phones. All the things which we have read about but dread ever having to have the experience of, these are the themes which make this film so shocking and unique. And also the subjects which make the film so up to date and easy to co operate with.

The horror in the film comes from the sensation it gives you when watching it, Throughout, I felt a whole range of different emotions, some which stayed in the back of my throat and some which surged from the pit of my stomach making me sick.

There are two intelligent, non violent and reasonable adults in the film, yet the more powerful group is the group of young teenagers who do not have any sense of discipline and do not care for consequences and the adults who felt so safe are now helpless, to me, this very real theme is scarier than the ghosts and ghouls and serial killers of most horror films now days.

Although we read about crime and brutality everyday in the papers, to see it played out on screen in this almost documentary like film is something very different and really builds the films horror genre up to top notches.

Cat and Mouse

I find that a common theme among most horrors is the usage of the cat and mouse game, where somebody is either being chased or is chasing a killer to confront them. The chase always builds up tension in the film effectively, but can sometimes be to tiresome and ruin the whole film, and obviously there’s the periodic scenes that makes the audience jump just at the right point of tension build up. All very clever, but very predictable.

Eden Lake does use cat and mouse to make the film more intense but I found that it used it very effectively. Instead of the tension being broken, and the film being kept alive by something jumpy, there were actual scenes to break it up in which the characters came into contact.

The scare also comes from the violence and the gore in the scenes and not just the loud sound effects and people randomly pouncing out of the darkness. For this I really credit the director for using the correct balance of chase and character interaction.

The film was 91minutes long which is relatively short for a movie and if it had just been a couple running through a forest I would have grown very bored very quickly, but I did not find it to be dragged out n the slightest.

Violence

The violence in the film is extreme, I cannot think of many words effective enough to describe how I felt when watching it but I did find myself changing position, covering my eyes, talking out loud and biting my nails as some of the tension and violence was so unbearable I found myself at one point wanting to turn it off just to stop the gruesome scenes.

The scenes were more disturbing for how realistic they were, most of the violence in the film is caused by knives, and it was if I was watching a snuff movie which made me feel sick and uncomfortable.

I think the most disturbing thing about the violence in this movie is that it is 90% caused by children, and to watch children act so disgustingly really made the film stand out from other films and put it in the category of sick stories like Lord of the Flies, a book which of course turns harmless children into blood thirsty animals.

I also found the effects of the film were not only that I was watching violence, it actually made me feel violent which I have never experienced so strongly when watching a film.

I started to feel real bubbling hatred for some of the characters, to the point in which I was fuming watching it and I should have turned the television off.

Although this anger I felt was no doubt due to a good film and powerful acting, I found it to be a disadvantage, I felt uncomfortable with the rage I was experiencing and the film made me feel out of control of my emotions for most of the duration. This is not something I want to repeat which is probably why I haven’t watched it again.

Compared to other Horror Films?

Now days, most horror films are very similar and are equally frustrating, they all consist of similar components, for example, no one has a cell phone and if they do they have no reception. Someone always falls over when running away, and the car never starts, someone always ends up ripping their clothes and being covered in mud Etc.

Although Eden Lake does contain some of the usual to keep it flowing, I can forgive it because its structure is exceptional and it incorporates so many aspects in which other films are scared to portray. For instance using so many children to act as stereotypical thugs is slightly risqué, and also the exploitation of some of the problems we have had with children and teenagers in society recently and also with knife crime, gangs and filming violence, the film is so realistic that I found it ruthless and extreme but also addictive to watch. I also sickeningly found that I could relate to the films horror because I have seen similar things on the news or in the newspapers.

The director of the film is not bothered about being politically correct which is probably why the film did not get far in the cinema, it is so shocking that the best place to watch it is in the privacy of your own home where you can switch it off if you become offended, no doubt many people will be offended by this film.

I think that the film did carry its own originality but it could be compared with other names that I have seen, and some of the scenes were reminiscent of scenes in other films, there was a point near the end which reminded me of Apocalypse Now and the film also ran similarities with the Descent, however I thought the descent was rubbish, Eden Lake is much more polished and I would also class it as being real horror.

Characters

One of the main characters is Jack O’Connell who plays Brett; he is the leader of the gang and manipulates the other children, even a very young boy into participating in his sick games. Not only does he show the cruelty of his character but he also shows the influence that a gang leader can have on other children even though they are aware that they are acting immorally. This off course reflects real life, and also reminds us that every group has a leader, to be a leader is a very powerful thing and power can be very dangerous, as it is in Brett’s case.

Brett is the child of parents who have not controlled him, not been bothered to discipline him, and who are just as violent and sick minded as he is, this is why he is the way he is. I found this rather disappointing as of course we know that a child is not also naughty due to poor upbringing, however Brett is far more than naughty, and although his parents are far less than caring they are not poor, they are working, middle class adults who show as a very sad side of society and parenting.

Jack O’Connell plays the part with a great passion and he allows the audience to hate him with no sense of remorse. He is slightly rugged and unshaped as an actor and there are scenes in which I feel he slipped up slightly especially with his speech, I did not find that he was always consistent, but overall his acting suited the film and he fitted the part in both looks and acting skills.

Thomas Turgoose also shines through in this film, I recognised him from this is England, another violent film which ignores political correctness and shocks its audience. He acts brilliantly in this despite not being cast as much as he could have been, he is a strong character and it was encouraging for me to see a face I recognised.

All of the children play their parts effectively, as I managed to hate all of them, they also did well in showing other emotions, for example when they are feeling the guilt of what they are putting the couple through it is clear. I was also impressed at how naive the children were able to act whilst they were clearly taking part in violent adult activities throughout the film.

I think this is to really show that actually most of the time our children do not know the sickness in which they are taking part in and do not look at the world in a way which is either correct or moral, I also believe that although you cannot blame a parent for their Childs behaviour, it is not natural for a child to carry a knife, they have copied this from adults which of course shows the sad cycle of life.

Michael Fassbender and Kelly Reily play there parts brilliantly. Kelly Reilly is a beautiful fresh faced and kind looking primary school teacher Jenny who is suited perfectly to her role. She is a very clean actor and this contrasts so brilliantly to the dirtiness of the children in the film that the characters work perfectly together.

Jenny is the leading role in the film, my first impressions was that her character was slightly wet and would not make a strong lead, if a film has a weak leading character it lets the whole picture down, luckily I was entirely wrong and Kelly Reilly took her part beautiful and expressed all the right emotions in all the right places.

Michael Fassbender is also perfect for the role of Steve; he both looks and acts like a kind and responsible, sensible and boring adult which expresses even more the bare cruelty of the children. His character is unfortunate in its encounters, and I think this is what made me so angry as a viewer; it was like watching someone similar to the men in my life that I respect being tortured by children

I think Steve and Jenny’s relationship was convincing and I could not fault their acting at all.

Props, effects and scenery

The film was shot on a low budget and apparently took just 6 weeks to complete; I assure you that this was noticeable.

There are no special effects as such, the whole film is very real and the camera work is not professional, there are no costume changes, no amazing specially made soundtracks to increase intensity or amplify a key moments. The only make up is that of the blood throughout, however despite the lack of luxuries in this film, it remains to be effective.

The scenery of the Lake and the woodland gives the impression of somewhere dark and beautiful, sweet and sour, old and young, like the comparison between the children and the two adults.

Eden Lake is the perfect setting for a horror film, the lighting the trees offer is perfect and the darkness and dankness of the forest offer a cheap and easy solution to the director’s predicament.

The film is based on reality and the reality is really portrayed by the naturalness of the filming and is the perfect location to film a horror film.
The film is rough and bare and I think if it were any more groomed the realism would be lost and it would not have a terrifying edge to it. Nor would it be different to any other movie in which a load of people are trapped in a forest (I can count a few)

Who can watch it?

Not everybody, if you have an uneasy stomach or you are squeamish then I would not recommend watching this film, or going anywhere near it. It is extremely gruesome and reminds me of films like Hostel and Saw by how shocking it is, and how real and gruesome the bloody scenes are. I also know that both these films had mixed reactions from people who enjoyed the bare nature of the horror and audiences who considered it entirely unnecessary to make a film so cruel and violent. Eden Lake is exactly like this, bare knuckled horror which completely shocked me.

You will either enjoy the shock or you will regret watching it, therefore I would recommend that you consider fully before turning it on.

Film Rating

The film is rated as an 18 and has a strong parental warning on it advising on strong language, graphic scenes and strong violence, this most contributed towards me choosing it, if you have children, please do not let them watch it, the language and violence is terrifying.

Overview

Eden Lake is one of the most impressive films I have seen for a while, it thoroughly shocked me to the core, and I haven’t had the nerve to give it another watch, when I do, I will ensure I watch it with someone as I really want to discuss it with them afterward.

The film left me numb, I was unable to decide how to take it and it really got my wind working, up until a day or two ago I couldn’t work out whether I enjoyed it or not. I have come to the conclusion that I did not enjoy it, not because it was a bad film, or because of any particular disadvantage, just because I do not believe it to be a film that is possible to enjoy, it is a film in which you need to watch and swallow, and think about after, one that your either brave enough to watch or not.

What I found most disappointing and shocking is the ending of the film; it kept me thinking for days, which I believe to be the trait of a completely powerful movie.

Let me know if you’ve seen it.

X

 

...less