The night I watched The Revenant, I had a quick conversation with a close friend of mine about movies, and he ended up recommending this film, among a few other low-key horror movies. When I first watched the movie I couldn't help make fun of the accents of some of the characters, effectively ruining any tension for myself, and the friends who sat down to watch it with me. I guess it's a good thing I re-watch these movies as I review them.
Eden Lake is a bleak and sadistic movie that borrows its style from a few other horror films and favours an audience that enjoys punishment. When I say this, I don't mean that it's bad (it's actually quite good), but it makes an effort to exploit any moment where we might feel hope and dashes that hope with more pain.
The film follows Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender as Jenny and Steve, a couple that embark on a romantic getaway to a place called Eden Lake. They're insistent on having a good weekend, and it would seem that everyone in the universe is intent on stopping them. Seriously, these guys must've committed a series a mass murders in a past life or something, because they never have a bright moment from the time they begin their journey. They try to turn on to a road, they get cut off by a bunch of hooligans on bicycles. They're presented with a nice parking spot, then someone rudely snatches the spot first. They book a room at a bed and breakfast, people are yelling and screaming on the street outside all night. It just keeps getting worse; eventually they confront the group of hooligans from the start, who have now stolen their car, and try to get the keys to their car back. Of course, this goes poorly too, as the a commotion builds that results in the death of the group's dog. It's an accident, so of course the hooligans react in a tempered and moderate way; their dog was killed because they decided it was their right to steal someone else's car, so they decide to torture the couple when they capture them. Who says people can't behave rationally, right?
The first thing I noticed about the movie is how similar it is to other British horror movies. There's the soundtrack, which is very reminiscent of the Descent horror movies. In fact, a lot of this movie's style and aesthetic owe to The Descent, even if their plots are completely different. There's constant fake-outs of the idea that the characters are going to get out of this situation alive. The whole movie is characters in a struggle for their lives, and a regular punishment of their attempts to stay alive, the dark nature of the movie's content contrasting with the bright and beautiful forest around them. There's regular switching between moments of genuine tension and moments that revel in the gore of the situation. A scene involving Steve getting into somewhere he shouldn't is worth a few seconds of seat-gripping, and a scene involving Steve and Jenny examining the massive stab wounds in Steve's side is something you definitely want to avert your eyes from.
There are, however, a few annoyances that seem to remain ever-prevalent in horror. The first is the seemingly irrational actions from every character involved. Steve walks deep into a house in which he's not invited, and he knows that the hooligans live there. Jenny tries to Bluetooth connect to Steve's phone to call the police, rather than using her own phone to call, which is what alerts the hooligans to her presence.
There's also the movie's choice to focus on sadism more often than it does actual tension. In one scene, Jenny accidentally steps on a spike as she is running, which would be fine if it added an opportunity for the hooligans to catch up, but all it does is add a few moments where we squirm as she writhes on the ground in pain. There's also a scene where the hooligans burn a child alive, and it's a moment where the film goes from bleak to gratuitous and pointless. It fits the nihilistic tone of the movie, but it adds nothing to the characters or the story.
The Verdict: Eden Lake is a good horror movie with some genuine moments of tension. There's some character stupidity required to movie the story along, and it's constantly depressing; even in the moments where start to feel like it might get easier, that feeling gets snatched away. I recommend this to fans of horror movies, because it is decent, but the violence and gore, combined with its incredibly dark tone make it hard to pick anyone else who might enjoy it.
Rating: 6.5/10
Published July 10th, 2016
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