Overview
A weekend by the lake, with views to die for.
When a young couple goes to a remote wooded lake for a romantic getaway, their quiet weekend is shattered by an aggressive group of local kids. Rowdiness quickly turns to rage as the teens terrorize the couple in unimaginable ways, and a weekend outing becomes a bloody battle for survival.
Review
Eden Lake is an intense and brutal movie which really places humanity in the crosshairs of all that’s evil. The teenage assailants in this movie are really a byproduct of their environment. The environment around Slapton Quarry, which is the actual place the young couple visit, has devolved. Its inhabitants surrounding the town seem to be apathetic, without morals, and beaten down generation after generation. It’s a really bleak, inhospitable vacuum that extends to the local diner where adults showcase the source coldness the teenagers later reveal.
The writing of Eden Lake excelled as a very plausible storyline where a succession of events ultimately leads to the real tragedy and bloodshed. Some complain about the ending, how it might seem unlikely to happen. But I felt the writing set this up to be believable. Once you follow the couple’s journey away from the quarry and get a sense of what surrounds it. There seems to be no other way but to end the way it did.
Eden Lake is a film that succeeds on many levels. You care about the couple. You thoroughly hate the antagonists. This movie felt like it had happened before to someone. Or could happen to you at some point in your life. You connect with the fear, the lack of control. It’s a truly gripping, nerve-wracking HORROR movie that’ll continue to haunt well after its runtime.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)
