Eden Lake **** (2008, Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Jack O’Connell, Thomas Turgoose) – Classic Movie Review 1204

Writer-director James Watkins’s gruesome, realistic and disturbing British 2008 horror thriller stars Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender as nursery teacher Jenny and her boyfriend Steve who quit town for a romantic weekend.

Steve has picked out an idyllic setting to propose to her, a remote lake enclosed by woodlands. But their peace is shattered when a gang of delinquent teenagers led by Jack O’Connell circle their campsite.

The gang relentlessly start provoking the couple, steal their belongings and vandalise their car, leaving them stranded. When Steve confronts them, he is violently attacked and Jenny desperately tries to evade her pursuers and find a way out of the woods.

Reilly and Fassbender are fine actors, ideally cast and give strong and committed characterful performances. Pitching it just right as the film’s main villain, O’Connell is outstanding as the terrifying ring leader Brett. And Thomas Turgoose (This is England) makes his mark too as Cooper, though it is a shame that he does not have more to do.

The story is simple and straightforward enough, so it’s all in how it is done and here Watkins’s game plan is to refresh the genre clichés by keeping it brutal and scary. As director, he turns in a well-crafted film, ensuring that it is economical, compact and taut.

A mix of Lord of the Flies and Deliverance, the film has a ruthless tone that succeeds in unsettling and upsetting the audience, and Watkins keeps tension  high throughout and does not hold back when he feels he needs to. Hence the power and effectiveness of his film that stays memorable when so many other low-budget Brit horror thrillers are forgotten.

Credible horror thrillers are hard to come by, so this one is valuable. It is all set in the one location with a small cast, so it could easily be a stage play. But Watkins keeps it filmically urgent and cinematic, with good use of his lake and woodland location at Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, and not too obvious studio work at nearby Pinewood Studios.

Also starring James Gandhi as Adam, Bronson Webb as Reece, Shaun Dooley as Jon, Finn Atkins as Paige, Thomas Gill as Ricky and James Burrows as Harry.

Watkins co-wrote My Little Eye in 2002 and The Descent: Part 2 in 2009, and directed The Woman in Black in 2012 and Bastille Day in 2016.

O’Connell and Turgoose are both in This is England (2006).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 1204

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/