Movie Review: Eden Lake

Eden Lake (2008)

Dir. James Watkins

Warning; for this article, spoilers lurk at the end of this review.

Yeah, I know. I promised I'd have this review up, like ten days ago. I'm a very bad girl. But only in the nicest possible way. It's cool, trust me; your Mom knows what I mean. Ha! I'm only joking . . . yeah, the old jokes never ware thin in this household. Anyway, lets just get on to the movie review, shall we? Yes, I think we should. Preferably before I start spouting more bile.

'Feral Youth' is a subject widely publicised in contemporary Britain, particularly where the tabloids are concerned. You can normally find entire articles dedicated to Chavs/Neds wedged between pictures of Amy Winehouse's latest bust-up and a piece dealing with a gay Footballer. Yeah, the British tabloids are that flexible.

Okay, so the articles in question are generally classed as scaremongering at its shittiest, but these stories (believe it or not!) are occasionally derived from real-life occurrences. Right, I'm going to make another bold (and henceforth stupid) maneuver, and I am going to state this: I do not like Neds. If you're a Ned, I hate you -- well, actually I don't care about you enough to hate you, let's just say I express a strong dislike for you -- like mince. Yeah, you're like mince to me. Chances are, if you're a decent person, and you've ever encountered a Ned, you'll dislike them also. Oh, and btw, Ned stands for: Non-educated delinquent or something. Which fits perfectly. And make no mistake, the villains who roam James Watkins' Eden Lake are not like Burgess and Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, where Alex and his droogs are running amok. No, these villains, (although it's still a standard Youth vs Age affair), aren't intelligent, cultured or witty. They're knife-welding, music-blasting, violent, little thugs. I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

The film follows London couple, Steve and Jenny on a romantic break to Eden Lake (Dun dun duun), a beautiful, isolated getaway, where Steve (Michael Fassbender, he of Hex fame and CGI epic, 300) plans to propose to Jenny (Kelly Reilly). However, our couple soon cross paths with the local yobs, and early attempts at being civil soon deteriorate into a horrendous, bloody chase through the woodland.

What happens next is truly grueling and uncomfortable to watch. The scene where Steve is tied-up, and filmed via a mobile phone while various members of the young gang stab him acts as a prime example. It's like an article stolen from the pages of The Daily Record or The Sun, displayed in gruesome detail. It's up to school teacher, Jenny and her bloody flimsy shoes to save the day (watch the film; you'll see what I mean, man). Watching her character deteriorate onscreen is a heart aching affair as Reilly makes her so damn sweet.

The film is vicious and relentless; just as it seems like, "Oh that's a spot of luck. They're going to be alright", Watkins pitches his main characters further into a hellish nightmare. As the ending arrived, I was hoping for the standard outsiders-get-revenge routine, even though it is cliched. Sometimes, Eden Lake just seemed like one bloody chase. Of course, my opinion may be passed on the fact that the gang leader is just so unlikeable. Honestly, he's a smart-arsed prick, but fantastically acted all the same.

Of course, Eden Lake does nothing for rural working class communities, and it is a shame (perhaps some decent folk peppered around the narrative would have evened up the odds?). Instead, the youth and their parents are portrayed as nothing more than drunken, violent, snarling white trash. In this sense, the film retreads ancient ground, touching upon films such as Straw Dogs (which follows similar ideas of intelligent outsiders being victimised by primitive locals), Last House on the Left and I Spit On Your Grave, sharing a similar sense of barbarity and gritty, hopeless characters.

Eden Lake's ending is bleak and raw, and for me, that is the films downfall; although it isn't a bad film, not by any means, it also isn't enjoyable or entertaining. The protagonists struggle through every frame, and we feel as though we're trudging along with them, on the edge, heart pounding, wondering when it will all end. Still, Eden Lake is a brilliant slice of modern-day horror, representing a fear relevant in contemporary Britain.

Here be spoilers;

Steve and Jenny have travelled to Eden Lake, a quiet, isolated venture in the countryside. Steve's apparently visited before, and thinks it's the ideal place to propose. They walk through the woodlands, obviously happy. Jenny sees a young boy doing some sort of Biology homework. She tries to talk to him, but he says his mum says he's not supposed to speak to strangers. Jenny smiles, and leaves him to finish his work.

Upon getting there, they're disappointed to see a group of teenagers hanging around, listening to music while their rottweiler barks at Jenny. But, undeterred, our couple begin to relax. It isn't until later, that the youth let their dog off its leash, and laugh as it barks at Jenny further, snarling in her face. Steve has had enough; he approaches the gang, and asks them to control their pet, albeit in a civil manner. They laugh at him, and throw insults.

Later that night, Jenny gets the feeling someone is watching them. She asks Steven to go outside their tent and check. He comes back laughing; there's no one there. After their second night, Steve wakes up to find that someone has stolen his bag -- where he kept his car keys and mobile phone. Clearly pissed-off, he's even more distraught to find that his Jeep is gone. Walking through the woods, they hear the roar of an engine, and Steve's jeep comes crashing through the woods, nearly running into Jenny.

They find the young gang at a fire, drinking. It's obvious they've stolen the car, and Steve's mobile -- the leader is even wearing Steve's sunglasses. The rottweiler is chained, but barks as he approaches. Steve calmly asks for his stuff back. The youths draw pocketknives, and a fight breaks out -- the leader's rottweiler is accidentally killed by Steve. The couple somehow get into the car and put the foot down. In the dark, with the headlights broken, Steve crashes. Stuck and badly hurt, he persuades Jenny to run and get help, but with the gang looking for her, she hides until morning.

The morning after, Jenny sneaks around the woodland, and eventually finds the jeep; Steve is gone. She finds him tied to a tree-trunk, the gang around him, the leader snarling in his face; he's threatening to kill Jenny when he finds her. The leader then gets everyone else to stab Steve, while the female of the gang films it on her mobile phone. This is to further ensure that everyone is involved now. As Steve is badly injured, the gang find Jenny and chase her.

Steve escapes, and runs into Jenny. It's obvious that he's seriously wounded -- perhaps dying, but Jenny helps him, and they hide in a hut by the lake. He then tells her that he was planning on asking her to marry him, and he starts talking about their future honeymoon. Jenny tells him she will marry him, but she'll have to get help first. She leaves him hidden amongst the long grass by the lake.

Encountering the young boy she'd previously met, Jenny asks him to use his phone to get her help. He says he can't get a signal, but his mum's coming to pick him up, and she can get help then. It's obvious the boy is lying; he tells Jenny he's playing a game on his phone, but she discovers that he's sent a text, straight to the gang. They arrive, attack Jenny and knock her out.

When she awake, she find herself tied down, beside her lies Steve --who's now dead. The leader douses them in gasoline, and tries to get the young boy to light her. The leader says he can join the gang, if he does. The boy panics, and says no. Steve is set alight. Jenny screams as she watches him burn beside her, feeling the heat of the fire spread alongside her. Again everything is filmed via mobile phone. The leader looses patience with the young boy, and starts to douse him in gasoline. The fire burns away the rope, and Jenny runs away. She hears the young boy scream as he too, is set alight.

Jenny is now a mess; she's bloody, caked in mud and completely broken. She's like a mad woman, wandering about the woodland. She grabs a shard of glass, and one of the younger gang members approaches her, alone. She turns round and stabs him in the neck, and then realisation grips her; she holds the boy, sobbing and apologising. But it's too late. He dies.

The leader is loosing the respect of his gang; the young boy that Jenny killed has been found. Another boy says he's leaving; the leader beats him up, possibly killing him. The girl with the mobile phone runs into the woodland. She's had too much as well.

Jenny falls into a road, and his nearly run over. The car stops, and gives her a lift. The man tells her that he's coming to pick up his brother. Jenny demands to be let out; he's the brother of one of the gang members, and he'll possibly kill her. He doesn't know what she's on about, but he stops the car when he sees a boy, a gang member emerge from the woodlands. Jenny takes her opportunity and steals the car.

She's driving along, and the female gang member run out into her path. Jenny puts her foot down, running her over, and killing her. Weak, she makes it into town, but crashes the car. She stumbles out, and comes across a party, the people watch as she passes out.

Waking up again, she begs them for help, they laugh and tell her she's had to much to drink. Then Jenny sees the rottweiler, and another empty bowl. She sees the family pictures and realises that she's at the gang leaders house. She runs to the toilet, locking herself in. She raids the cupboards and finds a knife. The leader returns home, tells his parents that Jenny killed his friends. The leader's dad belts him, and decides that they need to act. The adults break into the toilet, Jenny tries to defend herself, but to no avail. The men drag her back into the bathroom, and all we hear are her screams. The leader returns to his bedroom, and looks into his mirror. Alone.