Steve takes Jenny, his nursery school teacher girlfriend, away for a romantic weekend with plans of proposing marriage. They find and set-up camp on the edge of a man-made lake on the site of an ex-quarry in beautiful idyllic surroundings. Pretty soon a group of kids arrive at the remote location and begin making a nuisance of themselves. When Steve confronts them it only makes matters worse. Their car is stolen and vandalised and the kids, led by the particularly sadistic Brett, set out to hunt, terrorise and torture the couple. What starts out as a minor inconvenience quickly escalates into a battle for survival...

This particular sub-genre of horror film is becoming prevalent, especially with new-comer writer/directors who see this format as a way of breaking into the film industry without being seen as having restricted themselves to a specialised field. In other words, critics not enamoured with horror might otherwise show respect to a film they can classify more as a mainstream thriller. Although showing certain similarities in form to The Hills Have Eyes and Wrong Turn, the difference here is that rather than in-bred hillbillies which are seen as mutant monsters, the perpetrators are ‘normal’ people - individuals you are likely to pass in the street. Presumably this is for the purposes of bringing home the darkest side of the human nature. Other films which have attempted something similar include Funny Games, The Last House on the Left, the recent Mum & Dad, and the excellent Switchblade Romance.

Deliverance is an obvious influence, but Eden Lake appears to borrow aspects from other movies too, like Friday the 13th (or the subsequent real-life Bodom events), and the boyhood experiences in The Butterfly Effect. This is also an exploration of basic male instincts, in this case maintaining a certain status. Steve does not want to lose face in the presence of his girlfriend, and similarly when confronted Brett has to keep his malicious control over his gang. It's not giving to much away to say that Eden Lake decides to use the Funny Games downbeat ending. This is a path I can never see the sense in, as every story is essentially about triumph over adversity. There's no doubting this film is well-made and has many positive points, but despite what some of the quotes say it's hardly original.

7

Ty Power