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A
pre-school teacher and her boyfriend go on holiday
to a quarry which is being transformed into a luxury
resort called Eden Lake only to find out that the
quarry is the haven of a bunch of teens up to no
good. After getting into a fight with the teens,
the couple finds themselves running for their lives
as they've just messed with the wrong kids.
Eden Lake. Now here's a controversial one for you,
a movie that gets the adrenaline flowing but also
makes you stop and think about where the world really
is today. For most people, Eden Lake will be just
another horror movie trying to be disturbing and
gory but for those of us who are aware of the
situation in the UK, this is terrifying on so many
levels. I'm actually thinking that this movie bombed
at the box-office in the UK due to the fact that
people don't want to see what's really going on in
their country but the fact is that many kids in the
slums of Britain are, and excuse my language, fucked
up. It wasn't long ago that two kids killed another
kid and put batteries in his eye-sockets in the UK.
When I was in Liverpool the last time kids were
actually throwing big rocks at the busses. I'm telling
you, no offence but these kids, you have got to
fucking hate them. I won't blame their parents because
it's the society that forms them to be this way. It's
certainly a horrifying situation and Eden Lake takes
a stand and shows us what could really happen unless
we try to do something about it.
Yes, to me, Eden Lake was indeed a brutally realistic
film which made me feel sick to my stomach. It's not
an entertaining movie, it's not, it's strong, it's
powerful and it's controversial material. Fine, the
ending was a bit far-fetched and clichéd (seriously,
stop blaming the parents) but the overall message
of the movie made me just fall in love with it. It
is indeed one of the best horror movies of the year.
Obviously there are some flaws to be found as well
though so let's start with them before we get into
the really great stuff. James Watkins had a great
idea when he made Eden Lake but it's not always the
best script. The first twenty minutes or so are
quite poorly written if you ask me with fodder scenes
that didn't do any good at all - instead they could've
focused on building up the characters more as the
characters are very flat.
The acting also leaves a lot to ask for as Kelly
Reilly struggles to understand what horror movies
are about. You could tell that she's not a big fan
of the genre. Like I said before, the ending is also
a big fat bummer and goes exactly where you expect
it to go but don't want it to go. Now we get to the
good stuff however. James Watkins directorial debut
is very good and he proves to us that not only is
he a good writer but also a good director. The
cinematography is brilliant at times with some
amazing shots and the colour-scheme just right.
I also loved how they didn't just show the movie from
the couples' perspective but also from the kids'
perspective. A movie like this could only be made
in France or the UK and this time England nailed it.
Well almost anyway. Perhaps too close to home for
UK movie-goers but the rest of us will certainly
enjoy this disturbing little shocker. Strongly recommended.
Not so gory, some stabbings and gory wounds.
A bit repetitive and generic at times. Did what it
was intended to do but nothing spectacular.
Adrenaline-pumping horror flick where nothing is too
controversial and everyone is fair game. I commend
James Watkins for daring to do a horror movie like
Eden Lake and I strongly recommend it despite its
controversial content.
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