Rental: Eden Lake
Release Date: DVD 2009 UK
Rating: R- strong violence, gore, language, nudity and drug use
Starring: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and Jack O’Connell
Writer / Director: James Watkins
I know I am way, way behind the review buzz on this movie since it is over a year old but since I have had a nasty case of the summer-flu for the past week I have been catching up on my horror rentals. You may recognize Kelly Reilly from last years Sherlock Holmes bromance starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Reilly plays the prim and proper fiance of the mild mannered Watson, Mary Morstan. Her name on the cover was one of the reasons that I decided to rent it, along with Michael Fassbender’s name who I loved on the show Hex (BBC) as the fallen angel Azazeal. I felt I should probably say that since slasher films aren’t typically the types of films that I would pick up on a whim.
That being said, the film isn’t your typical slasher thriller even though you would imagine it to be from the generic genre poster and description. I found the movie to be much more thought provoking than most blood-soaked suspense horror films of it’s kind. The general premise surrounds a sweetly unsuspecting couple who chose to vacation on Eden Lake. Little to their knowledge a gang of torture-happy teens has decided to setup their clubhouse on the lake where they drink, smoke and wield sharp objects. Reilly and Fassbender are really a sweet couple in this film with genuine chemistry which makes their fate all the more horrifying and mildly depressing.
Jack O’Connell plays the psycho gang leader named Brett. He was very reminiscent of other killers like John Ryder in The Hitcher with just pure mindless cruelty that has no explanation or purpose other than pure sadism. I guess in the end you kind of get an explanation as to why Brett is so royally effed up but in my mind he was going to be a psycho no matter what the excuse/reason. The unfortunate couple seem to make nothing but bad decisions no matter how much I kept hoping they would get some kind of revenge. I don’t want to spoil the ending, which was pretty good, so I will just stop there. I recommend this film to any survival-killer horror film fan who can handle plenty of torture and gore. Worth the rental I’d say.
– It’s better than Bacon
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