Directed by: James Watkins
Starring: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Jack O'Connell
I first watched Eden Lake about a month or so ago, and was so pleasantly surprised that I actually watched it again during the same night. I honestly can't remember the last time I've done that. The plot definitely isn't very original, nor is any other aspect of the film really. But the fantastic acting, along with the mindless violence and bleak atmosphere makes this one of my favorite horror films of the last decade.
Steve (Fassbender) has organised a surprise for his girlfriend Jenny (Reilly). The plan is for the both of them to take a peaceful, relaxing vacation at a small isolated lake in the midst of a vast forest, where Steve can propose. But things take a turn for the worst when they come face to face with a gang of teenagers who harass the couple before stealing their car.
Steve finds the teens and confronts them, but during the fateful encounter he makes a mistake that changes everything. The couple escape in their newly recovered car, but following a crash Steve is trapped and Jenny must leave him behind to go and get help. Meanwhile the teenagers stumble across Steve, and when Jenny returns, she realizes that if she doesn't save him, they will kill him. From there the film descends into a fast paced and dramatic quest for survival, and ultimately revenge.
As I already said, the acting was amazing, especially from O'Connell, who played the psychotic gang leader Brett. The visual effects were outstanding, and the sense of hopelessness from the couple lost in a seemingly never ending forest was brilliant. And I have to say, I definitely did not expect the movie to end how it did. I'm not saying that the ending was disappointing, as a matter of fact I thought it was the perfect ending. It's just an unexpected one.
Ruthlessly violent and spectacularly bleak, Eden Lake is the most enjoyable and disturbing British horror movie in years.
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