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Eden Lake

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Eden Lake (2008)

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Reviews Counted:23

Fresh:19

Rotten:4

Average Rating:6.7/10

Consensus: A brutal and effective British hoodie-horror that, despite the clichés, stays on the right side of scary.

Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: Like a bad dream turned worst nightmare, Eden Lake is a “relentlessly tense and immaculately paced” (Twitch Film) horror-thriller about modern youth gone wild. When a young couple goes to a... Like a bad dream turned worst nightmare, Eden Lake is a “relentlessly tense and immaculately paced” (Twitch Film) horror-thriller about modern youth gone wild. When a young couple goes to a remote wooded lake for a romantic getaway, their quiet weekend is shattered by an aggressive group of local kids. Rowdiness quickly turns to rage as the teens terrorize the couple in unimaginable ways, and a weekend outing becomes a bloody battle for survival. Eden Lake is “fierce, thought-provoking… and genuinely shocking” (Time Out London). --© Third Rail Releasing [More]

Starring: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Thomas Turgoose

Starring: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Thomas Turgoose

Director: James Watkins

Director: James Watkins
Screenwriter: James Watkins
Producer: Christian Colson, Richard Holmes
Composer: David Julyan
Studio: Third Rail

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Reviews for Eden Lake

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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It’s not long before the claret starts to flow. And it won’t be too long before you start eyeing the exit sign.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment 1 Comment
09/12/08
Daily Mirror [UK]

A gruelling, grimly effective British chiller.

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
10/18/08
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Screen International

Daily Mail scaremongering? Possibly. But formidably well-made, all the same.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
09/12/08
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

if it gets people talking about youth violence, class conflict and the gulf of social inequality in Britain, then all the better - and if it does not, at least it will give them a frightening, albeit derivative, ride.

Full Review Source: Eye for Film | comment Comment
09/05/08
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Eye for Film

It doesn't fight shy of a truly frightening final twist, which makes it not only bleaker but also more truthful than virtually every other movie in this genre, which all too often is over-populated and under-humanised.

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
09/12/08
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

So harsh, bleak and intense it achieves a level of raw power. A sordid little nightmare of contemporary England.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/12/08
Daniel Etherington
Daniel Etherington
Channel 4 Film

An effectively harrowing Brit thriller-cum-horror pic whose yuppie protags' weekend getaway runs violently afoul of the local youth.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
11/03/08
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It is impossible not to admire the way Watkins ratchets up the tension in his debut as director (he wrote My Little Eye) and keeps his tale strictly to 90 minutes.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
09/12/08
Derek Malcolm
Derek Malcolm
This is London

It’s a claustrophobic marvel, and an impressive debut by Watkins.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
09/12/08
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Well acted, well directed, and totally intense, 'Eden Lake' is the best horror film to come out of the UK in years.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
12/22/08
Lucius Gore
Lucius Gore
ESplatter

...while Eden Lake is effective, something feels not quite right about cheering for prepubescent kids to get their fatal comeuppance.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
10/13/08
Luke Y. Thompson
Luke Y. Thompson
L.A. Weekly

A well acted, smartly directed horror flick that's gory, disturbing, terrifying and topical.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/18/08
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Eden Lake: pursuit, persecution, violent death.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
09/12/08
Nigel Andrews
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times

The film’s one major fault is that Reilly’s character repeatedly acts in ways that serve the plot, but which run contrary to rational human behaviour. By contrast, the shattering downbeat ending is well earned and genuinely shocking.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
09/12/08
Nigel Floyd
Nigel Floyd
Time Out

This looks to me like the best British horror film in years: nasty, scary and tight as a drum.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment 2 Comments
09/12/08
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Has some seriously haunting themes torn right from the headlines, giving us something thoughtful to chew on. Besides our fingernails.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
09/04/08
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

It's not your typical "wooded horror" movie, but Eden Lake works exceedingly well, and will probably stick in your gut for a little while.

Full Review Source: FEARnet | comment Comment
11/06/08
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
FEARnet

You don't watch it, you survive it. A battering experience, and the hardest Brit horror in years.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/09/08
Simon Crook
Simon Crook
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Instead of Deliverance's deep backwoods hicks we have now backwoods chavs who live a life unscrutinised by cops or anyone. Watkins has consumed all those tabloid hoodie tales and regurgitated a horror.

Full Review Source: Teletext | comment Comment
09/11/08
Victor Olliver
Victor Olliver
Teletext

It is not often that The Sneak feels like walking out of a movie. But this exploitative, patronising and nauseatingly violent take on Britain’s yob culture had your critic eyeing up the exit.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
09/12/08
Sun Online
 
 
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Latest News for Eden Lake

September 16, 2008: Eden Lake (2008): Hooded horror trailer Opens in new window
More...

September 12, 2008: UK Critics Consensus: Pineapple Express is smoking hot; If in Eden Lake, DON’T Hug a Hoodie
This week we have the stoner action-comedy The Pineapple Express, with Seth Rogen, James Franco and new boy on the comedy block Danny McBride, plus My Little Eye writer James... More...

August 27, 2008: essentially Deliverance, but with the rednecks replaced by a gang of British teens... Opens in new window
More...

August 22, 2008: Further Reading: Hammer Horror's MySpace Revival Stumbles
Does a new collection of webisodes hosted on MySpace and featuring tabloid teen favourites Jamie Dornan and Lois Winstone constitute a revival of the Hammer Horror film? Not so,... More...

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