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#426 - Eden Lake
James Watkins, 2008
An urbane English couple decide to take a holiday in the countryside but soon have to contend with a gang of vicious delinquents.
In a lot of ways, Eden Lake reminds me of a film I reviewed earlier this year - Harry Brown. Both films are set in England, both feature Jack O'Connell as a gang member, and - perhaps most importantly - both of them belong to sub-genres that I don't seem to have the most patience for. While Harry Brown was firmly rooted in the vigilante sub-genre of action thrillers, Eden Lake makes a good case for belonging to the sadistic horror sub-genre, which I've often disliked because it sacrifices a lot of what I enjoy about films (compelling narrative, good characterisation, impressive visuals) for the sake of cheap gore that substitutes genuine thrills with shock and disgust. The plot is as basic as they come - a boyfriend (Michael Fassbender) and girlfriend (Kelly Reilly) have decided to take a holiday for the weekend and so venture into the countryside. Of course, circumstances result in the two of them having a conflict with a gang of youths (led by O'Connell) that starts off as a dispute over a loud boombox and soon escalates into a genuinely violent conflict as the unlucky couple are forced to fend for themselves in the middle of a very hostile environment.
At this point, it's a legitimate question as to why I'd even bother watching a film like this, and I guess my defence would be that I was trying to fit in a full never-before-seen movie into my day and this was merely the shortest one I could decide on that late in the day. Unfortunately, it lacks just about everything that I enjoy about horror movies as well. The film tries for a sort of moral ambiguity by attempting to frame its villains as a largely misunderstood group of teenagers who are driven to violence by both their backgrounds and the couple's intrusion; even then, there are quite a few members of the gang that are clearly uncomfortable with the violence being perpetrated against the two leads by a couple of ringleader types. Conversely, the film also tries to frame said couple as some rather elitist inner-city types whose reversion to violence is mired in disdain for rural types as much as in a desperate need to survive. Of course, striking this balance is difficult even at the best of times and this film definitely doesn't signify the best of times. The realistic setting also means that the violence is vicious without being inventive and so does not leave that much of an impression.
Eden Lake does attempt to redeem its rather pedestrian body with an ending that is somewhat shocking, but it definitely isn't enough and instead only serves as yet another reason to feel like this film was a fundamental waste of time. At best, it lacks innovation and is good for a few easily crafted bits of gore or suspense. At worst, it tries and fails to be more complex than it actually is and its finale is just the last nail in the coffin for an otherwise nasty little film. I should credit it for at least trying to introduce some flexible morality that takes it beyond the sort of us-versus-them mentality that normally defines a film like this for the worse, but instead it just inspires a severe sense of apathy that goes to extreme levels considering the grossly realistic violence that's involved. Said apathy is not aided by how the film also takes credible actors and reduces them to boring stereotypes so that it's even harder to care about what happens one way or the other. All in all, a very disappointing excuse for a horror film.
James Watkins, 2008
An urbane English couple decide to take a holiday in the countryside but soon have to contend with a gang of vicious delinquents.
In a lot of ways, Eden Lake reminds me of a film I reviewed earlier this year - Harry Brown. Both films are set in England, both feature Jack O'Connell as a gang member, and - perhaps most importantly - both of them belong to sub-genres that I don't seem to have the most patience for. While Harry Brown was firmly rooted in the vigilante sub-genre of action thrillers, Eden Lake makes a good case for belonging to the sadistic horror sub-genre, which I've often disliked because it sacrifices a lot of what I enjoy about films (compelling narrative, good characterisation, impressive visuals) for the sake of cheap gore that substitutes genuine thrills with shock and disgust. The plot is as basic as they come - a boyfriend (Michael Fassbender) and girlfriend (Kelly Reilly) have decided to take a holiday for the weekend and so venture into the countryside. Of course, circumstances result in the two of them having a conflict with a gang of youths (led by O'Connell) that starts off as a dispute over a loud boombox and soon escalates into a genuinely violent conflict as the unlucky couple are forced to fend for themselves in the middle of a very hostile environment.
At this point, it's a legitimate question as to why I'd even bother watching a film like this, and I guess my defence would be that I was trying to fit in a full never-before-seen movie into my day and this was merely the shortest one I could decide on that late in the day. Unfortunately, it lacks just about everything that I enjoy about horror movies as well. The film tries for a sort of moral ambiguity by attempting to frame its villains as a largely misunderstood group of teenagers who are driven to violence by both their backgrounds and the couple's intrusion; even then, there are quite a few members of the gang that are clearly uncomfortable with the violence being perpetrated against the two leads by a couple of ringleader types. Conversely, the film also tries to frame said couple as some rather elitist inner-city types whose reversion to violence is mired in disdain for rural types as much as in a desperate need to survive. Of course, striking this balance is difficult even at the best of times and this film definitely doesn't signify the best of times. The realistic setting also means that the violence is vicious without being inventive and so does not leave that much of an impression.
Eden Lake does attempt to redeem its rather pedestrian body with an ending that is somewhat shocking, but it definitely isn't enough and instead only serves as yet another reason to feel like this film was a fundamental waste of time. At best, it lacks innovation and is good for a few easily crafted bits of gore or suspense. At worst, it tries and fails to be more complex than it actually is and its finale is just the last nail in the coffin for an otherwise nasty little film. I should credit it for at least trying to introduce some flexible morality that takes it beyond the sort of us-versus-them mentality that normally defines a film like this for the worse, but instead it just inspires a severe sense of apathy that goes to extreme levels considering the grossly realistic violence that's involved. Said apathy is not aided by how the film also takes credible actors and reduces them to boring stereotypes so that it's even harder to care about what happens one way or the other. All in all, a very disappointing excuse for a horror film.