Eden Lake Movie Review

*repost from 11/12/2008

Directed by James Watkins

Starring Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender

Availability: out on dvd 01/06/2009

After slashers, survival horror is probably my next favorite horror subgenre. The problem most of them suck or are highly derivative of other movies before it. While this movie doesnt reinvent the knife (or wheel get it?), but what it accomplishes is very well done. For a successful survival horror or serious horror in general is at least give a damn about the main characters. The movie does a great job of getting you to like them before all hell breaks loose.

The movie is about this English couple that are going for a weekend vacation out to a remote rock quarry at a state park. While laying out on the beach at the lake a group of punk kids come and start a ruckus. Pretty soon the punk kids get out of hand and starts to fuck with them. They eventually steal their car and the couple go looking for them. I dont want to give away too much but once they encounter them something happens and then the kids are out to kill them. The husband is injured and caught early on and the rest of the movie the wife's on a mission to survive and to help her husband.

What I loved about this movie was the realistic feel to it. All of the actors even kids seemed genuine and not like rehearsed actors. The dialogue and actions also rang true. Of course there are some unrealistic coincidences that happen but the tension built still managed to suck me in. Also I give props to the ending which kinda surprised me but I loved it, and it fit perfectly with the movie. I may rate movies on average higher than most people but rarely do I give many movies in the 8-10 range, but this one does happen make it there. Highly recommended. On a scale of 1-10 I give this a "generic English rap music" 8.0 out of 10.