Eden Lake (2008)

Plot of Eden Lake: Jenny and Steve are a young couple who have decided to wild camp on the beach of Eden Lake, an idyllic setting in the English woodland. Unfortunately their sojourn is interrupted by a group of teenage boys and one girl with their Rottweiler, and after the couple have walked to the town for breakfast they find their car has been stolen on their return. A fight between Steve and Brett, the gang leader results in Brett’s dog being accidentally killed. When Steve and Jenny try to escape, now in their car they crash resulting in Steve being trapped and Jenny hiding in the woods. The following day she finds that the boys have tied up Steve and Brett is making the gang stab him in turn. She is also caught and finds that she and her boyfriend, now dead, are going to be burnt. She escapes but on the run nothing seems to be working out in her favour.

Content: Jenny wears a bikini, one of the boys flashes her and a couple are seen having sex, fully clothed. Some casual drinking. The couple enjoy their time in the sunshine on the beach, but the presence of the teens is irritating. There is a lot of violence. A dog is killed, Steve is mutilated while tied up with barbed wire. Jenny is chased by the gang and undergoes many distressing experiences including having a metal spike impaled in her foot and running over the female gang member in a stolen van. She also kills one of the boys with a shard of glass. Brett beats one of the other boys to death and “necklaces” a boy who is helping them. This is not a film for younger viewers.

A View: Wow, I had heard that this film was extremely violent but until watching it did not know in what way. Now I know. It was an extremely low cost production at $2 million, and might have made a bit of money. It caused some waves in the media  apparently causing divisions between groups of people in Britain, and it is interesting that Brett’s father is a “white van man”. It is known in some media as a hoodie horror. It was well made and well acted but I did not like it, but that’s just me.

Fun Fact: Jack O’Connell who played Brett won the BAFTA Rising Star award in 2015.