Konterr Brilliant and touching

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

shannen-l-c When I stumbled across Eden Lake on Amazon Prime, I did what I always do before watching a new movie and checked out the rating and reviews here on IMDb. I was surprised to see it had a 6.8 rating (which is very high for a horror movie) and a lot of positive reviews. However, intermingled with the good were as many bad. It seemed that people either loved this movie or hated it, so I was curious to watch and decide for myself which side I would take. It starts off like any other horror movie does - a young couple on their honeymoon at a lake in the UK. They butt heads with a bunch of rowdy teenagers at the lake and you can sense that there will be consequences of that. It follows the couple's battle for survival as the group of teens decide to take revenge on the couple for attempting to stand up to their bad attitudes and antisocial behaviour. First things first, the performances from all of the cast are strong. Although I was unfamiliar with all of the actors excluding Jack O'Connell (who plays the villainous teen, Brett), I was impressed with the cast and didn't feel I was watching amateurs as I often do with horrors. Putting the strong cast aside, there are few other positives to this movie. The pacing is slow and I found myself bored or uninterested for much of it. Furthermore, it felt incredibly unrealistic and the actions of the couple were illogical. As a viewer we're supposed to sympathise with the couple, but part of me couldn't because all I could think was that they'd brought it upon themselves. In their situation I wouldn't have conducted myself the way they did and I don't know many people that would. What it is useful in showing is the dangers of being confrontational and standing up to people like that. Often the safest and most sensible thing to do is NOTHING. Walk away and say nothing, that's the best way to stay safe in situations like that. But not this couple. The husband, in particular, charged in on multiple occasions and antagonised the teens. Furthermore, there are a couple of incidents that prove the teens are holding a grudge against the couple, yet the couple's actions remain stupid and illogical. They keep their tent in the exact same area they met the teens and the husband continues with his confrontational behaviour. All of this does make it hard to sympathise with the couple, because although no one deserves what happens to them, they had many opportunities to prevent what happens to them from happening. I can appreciate that the movie carries with it an important message regarding the apathy present in modern society and the devastating consequences of gang culture and peer pressure, and I believe this is where the positive reviews come from. However, despite the presence of those relevant and harrowing themes, nothing was done with them. It shows us that there are young people out there that are capable of atrocities but do not fully comprehend the seriousness or evilness of their actions and it shows us that even for those young people that are good at heart they are still capable of doing the most abhorrent things in pressurised situations. But it doesn't go deep enough with it. There's no valuable lesson or message embedded within the story. What makes kids this way? What are the consequences to their actions? What can be done to tackle this very real issue in our society? These are very important and valid questions, but the movie does nothing to address them. After a slow paced, dragged out plot the ending is incredibly disappointing. There is no pay-off for what happens and it left me feeling hollow and angry and once again questioning, WHAT IS THE POINT? It felt like I'd invested 2 hours of my life into a movie that had no real purpose or meaning. What's more frustrating is that it had the potential to be brilliant and creatively address the issues I've discussed above.Overall, I'm inclined to say after watching Eden Lake, I fall somewhere in between the good and bad reviews. I think it portrays very complex and relevant issues that impact us all in our daily lives, but it falls short of doing anything meaningful with it. Eden Lake is certainly not the worst horror movie I've ever seen, but is not one I'd watch again.

BehemothWarrior This movie starts off as regular horror flick. You see a happy couple on a weekend getaway hanging out and having a good time. And you know something it's going to happen to them. But believe me when I say you won't be prepared for this. Eden Lake is one of the most heartbreaking and grim films I've ever watched. The ending left me deeply frustrated, not because it was bad but because it felt genuine. Like something you could experience out there in the real world and also could serve as a reminder of how agressive and insensitive human beings can be. This is most definitely, not for the faint of heart.

tafilint2003 So, teenagers just want to kill? Funny, they didn't even try to rape the woman. Does anyone really believe that? Totally stupid and unrealistic movie. Avoid wasting time (and especially money) on this crap."Killing Ground" is a lot better and more realistic movie.

pittsburghvintagemodern As others have said: this is in some ways a very well made film. Unfortunately the screenplay requires the characters to behave not only moronically, but also inconsistently and simply incomprehensibly. This is not your average "Don't do it! Run!" horror-film-character stupidity. (I'm a huge horror fan, and have been for 35 years.) We are talking about "Why are you eating spoonfuls of peanut butter after telling us you have a mortally severe peanut allergy and that you just want to survive?" level incomprehensible behavior on the part of the films central characters...and consistently, from start to finish. This could have been a very effective film along the lines of Wolf Creek. Sadly, it is a stupid piece of trash. If you love horror and have an IQ over 75, this film will make you very angry - at the jerkoffs who wrote it! JUST AVOID.