12 November 2008 @ 14:57Eden Lake (2008)

Eden Lake surpassed all my expectations and delivered an extremely satisfying horror film in the same mood as The Strangers.

Eden Lake comes to us from British writer and director James Watkins and is distributed by Dimension Extreme. Steve and Jenny are intent on a peaceful camping trip to a quiet lake only to find themselves harassed by a band of obnoxious youths. Steve confronts the youths and the situation turns violent. Jenny must choose between helping Steve or leaving to find help in the nearest town.

Eden Lake is one of those rare horror films that is actually believable, and it is that believability that sucks the audience in. Much like with The Strangers, the audience has this haunting knowledge that yes, this sort of thing actually can (and does) happen. It is not often that a film stirs up a lot emotion in me, but while watching Eden Lake, I found myself getting angry at the violent youths and their completely disregard for life and law.

My only gripe with the film was occasional shrieking that seemed to come from the right side of the film. Oh, sorry, that wasn’t in the film that was my wife sitting next to me shrieking with surprise.

If you like an edge-of-your-seat horror/thriller, you must see Eden Lake.

Writer/Director: James Watkins
Starring: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Jack O’Connell, Thomas Turgoose

Buy:
Amazon | Amazon UK | Walmart

Rent:
Netflix

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