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.

• Kelly Reilly – Jenny

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.

What’s it about?

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.