Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2684 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-01-19
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the creepiest horror movies of the last couple of years, Eden Lake clearly draws influence from the likes of Funny Games, as it presents the story of Jenny and Steve, a young couple who head off on a seemingly-idyllic holiday pretty much in the middle of nowhere. However, it doesn’t take long before trouble follows them, in the shape of a group of teenagers (and their dog). And what starts off as a bit of harassment soon makes the whole holiday a simple game of survival.

In different hands, Eden Lake could have been a run-of-the-mill, fairly nasty horror film. And while it’s still not what you’d call pleasant, it’s handled properly, and this means there are substantive characters, some well-handled tension, and an unwillingness to shy away from the film’s setup. It’s a hard film to take your eyes off.

Do be warned, though: Eden Lake isn’t a film where the camera is turned away at the key moments, and family viewing it absolutely isn’t. But it is a very well made modern-day horror film, that sidesteps the many pitfalls of the genre. It’s not an easy film to sit through, but it is a gripping one, and it’s a movie that’ll stick in your mind long after the credits have rolled. Other than that, the less you know about it, the better… --Jon Foster

Synopsis
This decidedly British take on the likes of Michael Haneke's FUNNY GAMES and the French shocker THEM finds young teacher Jenny (KELLY REILLY – MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) and boyfriend Steve (Michael Fassbender – HUNGER, 300) enjoying a peaceful holiday at the eponymous idyllic beauty spot. However, Jenny and Steve's tranquil break is thrown into anarchy when a group of teenagers surround their site and begin to victimise them...

Customer Reviews

Very distubing
'Eden Lake' is about a young couple who decide to escape London for the weekend and have a romantic weekend at a remote lake. What they weren't expected was to be terrorised by a gang of young thugs which starts with a disagreement about how loud the music is and leads to much, much worse.

I love a good British horror but I was expecting nothing like this - 'Eden Lake' is very close to real life and is actually really terrifying to watch as it made me think that this could happen to absolutely anyone at anytime, anywhere. Yeah, it does go a little over the top near the middle of the film but is still stays very close to some of the problems that Britain has been dealing with in recent years such as knife crime, happy slapping (filming attacks on camera phones), parents not taking any responsibility for their children's actions and "hoodies" terrorising innocent people.

If you like horror films I definitely recommend watching this but don't expect a very pleasant viewing as for the most part this film is very disturbing.

A well executed ,relentless horrifying slalom ride around one of this country,s most nascent fears.
A lot of people seem to think that Eden Lake is cashing in and exploiting the Daily Mail style scaremongering about youth crime and the breakdown of law and order in Britain . However in the extra's writer director James Watkins says he wrote Eden Lake three years before the spate of teenage knife crime and the general sense of middle class outrage. He also says that the film is more about how we handle the emasculation of our ego in any given situation. ( brought about by an incident he had with two teenage girls) than about highlighting how near to frontier values Britain is inexorably sliding.
Reading reviews about this film is slightly mis-leading because the film is not nearly as clear cut in it's portrayal of the murderous chav gang as you may have been led to believe. Eden Lake ,for all the socio-political froth surrounding it is mostly just a very well executed ,relentless, horrifying slalom round the outer edges of one of this country's most nascent fears. It is not entertaining in the traditional sense but by jiminy it is gripping.
The film starts with the usual cosy middle class couple Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve ( Michael Fassbender) deciding to have a romantic week-end away at the remote beauty spot of Eden Lake. Once there they run into a pack of teenagers ,playing awful music very loudly and letting a slobbering aggressive Rotweiler run around . Steve asks them reasonably to take it easier and gets a load of abuse. Things escalate the couples car gets stolen by the gang and this leads to another confrontation where the dog is killed and the gang , led by psychotic Brett ( Jack O,Connell) turn really nasty .
The film then becomes an intense chase with sweaty palm interludes of real tension and sudden star bursts of violence or visceral action one of which is so horrible it actually gave me a physical reaction. . The acting is extremely good and the kids must be congratulated for giving such nuanced and believable performances . And it's the kids who are central to this film. Rather than the marauding band of slavering miscreants I was expecting the gang are mostly normal kids led on and bullied by one toxic ball of fury and hate. Plus Brett , is also given a back story that goes someway to explaining the way he is. The director describes him as the most tragic figure in the film ,which is pushing it when you consider what happens to some of the others but at least his rage and misanthropy is given some grounding.
If you are being critical you could argue that film doesn't follow logical paths at times. Jenny makes some curious decisions and the unbearably down beat ending , commendable though it is , relies overly on coincidences. The end is immensely powerful though and is the most salient point the film makes. Kids can be nasty vile little specimens but it's the examples they are set that make them so. Something the opening and closing shots of this film illustrates very well. The innocent face of one of nursery teachers Jenny young charges and the implacable hollow eyed visage of Brett . So Eden Lake is also asking how do we get from one to the other as well as posing the question what would we do if we were in Steve's position.

eden lake - one of the scariest movies ever
me and my friend went to see this at the cinema recently and both found it to be one of the most scary and thought provoking films of recent times. A young couple leave London for a romantic getaway at a natural beauty spot called eden lake. After they set up camp a group of "hoodies" arrive and disturb the peace with their anti social behavior. When asked if they would turn their music down by the couple a terrifying confrontation begins as the youngsters abuse and torture the couple. This film tackles its subject head on and does not shy away from anything. Many recent real life issues such as knife crime, peer preasure, people useing their phones to record violence and the fact that parents seem to take no responsibility for what their children get up to are shown in an all to familiar way. I highly recommed this film but do not expect a happy ending, just prepare to watch a frightning story that could easily be pulled from the headlines today. Also be warned it is extremely violent.