Phenomenal

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Phenomenal - 21/5/2010 9:40:03 PM

blaud

Posts: 722
Joined: 13/12/2007

I don't know exactly what I was expecting when I watched this film. I guess I was expecting a clever, relevant thriller regarding hoodie and chav culture in todays world. What I got was not a thriller, but a jaw-dropping, nail-gnawing, momentous assault of a horror film. No film has ever affected me as badly or as deeply as Eden Lake. I have seen many, many horror films before, but none have frightened me like this. The realness is unnervingly hostile, the rawness is unflinchingly brutal and graphic, and the setup painfully and terrifyingly familiar. This is a film that should be seen. By everyone. A brutally real masterpiece

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 121

RE: Phenomenal - 21/8/2011 1:18:00 AM

kumar

Posts: 5080
Joined: 2/10/2005

quote:

There�s no answers but it does pose questions: where�s the discipline, it asks? More to the point, where the hell are the parents?

lol, kind of relevant today.

Eden Lake was a boring unimaginative unoriginal piece of film with large chunks of it becoming incredibly predictable if you have seen Texas Chainsaw, Wolf Creek or the Descent- the latter of which is remarkably similar in tone and style and soundtrack. Watching a damsel in distress or like character being pushed to the edge and turning 180 degress on themselves has become derivative of many horror films and I didnt see anything new here. There was the odd squirmy bit namely the scene with the fire but I found the antagonists a load of shit. They werent horrifying as they were plain terrible and I failed to see any kind of threat. Ive seen a few good comments about Thomas Turgoose but his performance and character has no depth no variety and his acting ability has not changed once in either This is England/86 or this and as I mentioned earlier, what happens to him is obvious but not foreboding.

The rest of the gang are wholly unlikeable, I suppose that is the point but I didnt feel a threat from any of them. The lead ned has no tangible presence which compromises that peer pressure element throughout. Theres a lot more to complain about the film- the last act is pure-my-first-horror rubbish but the "closed community" aspect at the end was completely stupid.

Im tired of films like this which focus on gangs of yoofs doing nasty things (I perceive attack the block as different though) which have no point other than to say "look at these chavs" and claim to have some relevant social commentary. I wouldnt be surprised is this film is lauded by those same neds.

This film isnt horrifying, its just terrible. 2/5

_____________________________

"Darth Silas - I love Craig as Bond too. Genius. "- Jackmansgirl 15/7/2008

Last films watched:

The Road - 4/5
Chronicle - 4/5
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(in reply to blaud)

Post #: 122

RE: Phenomenal - 24/8/2011 7:47:23 PM

gordonsalive

Posts: 68
Joined: 26/4/2009
From: The Tannhauser Gate

quote:

lol, kind of relevant today.

Eden Lake was a boring unimaginative unoriginal piece of film with large chunks of it becoming incredibly predictable if you have seen Texas Chainsaw, Wolf Creek or the Descent- the latter of which is remarkably similar in tone and style and soundtrack. Watching a damsel in distress or like character being pushed to the edge and turning 180 degress on themselves has become derivative of many horror films and I didnt see anything new here. There was the odd squirmy bit namely the scene with the fire but I found the antagonists a load of shit. They werent horrifying as they were plain terrible and I failed to see any kind of threat. Ive seen a few good comments about Thomas Turgoose but his performance and character has no depth no variety and his acting ability has not changed once in either This is England/86 or this and as I mentioned earlier, what happens to him is obvious but not foreboding.

The rest of the gang are wholly unlikeable, I suppose that is the point but I didnt feel a threat from any of them. The lead ned has no tangible presence which compromises that peer pressure element throughout. Theres a lot more to complain about the film- the last act is pure-my-first-horror rubbish but the "closed community" aspect at the end was completely stupid.

Im tired of films like this which focus on gangs of yoofs doing nasty things (I perceive attack the block as different though) which have no point other than to say "look at these chavs" and claim to have some relevant social commentary. I wouldnt be surprised is this film is lauded by those same neds.

This film isnt horrifying, its just terrible. 2/5

Absolutely agree with this ^^

Social commentary my arse, I would actually be more afraid to walk past anyone who gets off on watching people being tortured for 2 hours, then any group of chaves or hoodies.

Characters that make no logical decisions through out the entire running time, terrible plotting and nothing for the viewer to hold out any hope for other then, how will they mutilate next.

Even the darkest but greatest horror's have moments of clarity and understanding even though they didn't end "happily", the Wicker Man springs to mind. But this had nothing of interest to say at all. Bloody awful.

_____________________________

'You musn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.'

(in reply to kumar)

Post #: 123

Fucking Brutal. - 27/1/2012 7:53:58 PM

lewisb548

Posts: 111
Joined: 24/2/2011

Where do I start? This has got to be some of the most brutal things I've seen in years.
The brutality captured by James Watkins reminds me of Straw Dogs but better yet this movie reminds me of society today. At my high school my fellow class mates are violent sadistic assholes taking pleasure in hurting others, the hoodie-evil bastard- type kids in this movie are just that with the added element their fucking physco's.
This film was fairly entertaining both the shaky camera work and the brutally true portrayal of todays youth made this a harrowing experience.
The story is fairly simple, Kelly Reilly (Watsons wife in sherlock holmes 1 and 2) plays Jenny who decides to go on a romantic camping trip to the secluded beatiful Eden Lake with her hunky boyfriend Steve (Michael Fassbender), the downside of this romantic outing is that they are taunted, humiliated and pissed off by a bunch of fucking neds, who make it their aim for the weekend to terrorise said couple in every way possible.
Steve is a likeable bloke and Kelly is a lovely girl, the two are a nice couple who deserve to be happy, why would you take your girlfriend camping, why dont you just call 911? Why not run off the second you see intimidating teens, its what I do at school every day!
Steve and Jenny first meet the lovely teens when they are relaxing at a beach and the teens piss them off by playing music very loudly, Steve confront them, asks them nicely to stop the music, what do they do? Play it louder. Steve and Jenny then decide to ignore them only to have their back tires slashed the next morning, they go camping again but this time their car gets stolen by the kids, Steve confronts them about it only for them to pull knifes on him, he defends himself a struggle ensues and the leader of the group Brent (A brilliant Jack o'connell.). gets pissed off when his doggy dies in the struggle, normal people when their dog dies grieve then move on, but lovely old Brent decides to go on a murderous rampage.
Kelly and Steve try to escape only for Steve to be trapped in their car but he is knocked out by the teens, the next morning Kelly having hidden in a bush is defenseless to stop the teens from brutally torturing Steve by tieing him to a tree stump with barbed wire and chains, the teens brutally slash at his body as Kelly watches in horror and one of the teens films the whole fucking thing. The most shocking thing about this scene is the total lack of compassion from the teens, one or two of them are reluctant to hurt Steve but that amazing invention called Peer pressure takes hold and the teens cut away at him.
The next 50 minutes or so of the film is a thrilling, suspenseful ordeal as Kelly rushes through the woods going through hell as she is chased by the teens, Steve manages to escape with lots of fatal cuts but lets just say he doesn't exactly get a fairytale ending.
The rest of the film when Steve disappears was pretty predictable from reading the premise I have guessed that Steve would die horribly and Kelly would slowly go on a revenge fuelled rampage like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill unfortunately I was wrong because the only killing she does is stabbing the kid from 'This is england'
The leader of the group is a murderous evil little bastard and is one of the most evil creations in recent horror movies, the attitude of the kids reminds me of the guys from
'A Clockwork Orange'. These teens are just plain evil, remorse is felt for the reluctant ones mainly due to their brutal death scenes at the hands of their tormenter/leader Brent.
This film is shockingly well made and just plain shocking but the main problem with this film is that towards the end the audience gets the sense that James Watkins has ran out of ideas, because the indecent and just plain unfair ending was just awful, poor old Kelly.
The performances are great but things run out of steam towards the end but this is relentless torture for both the good guys and the audience-you dont watch this you fucking surivive it, sadly for us the end product is not as pleasing as we would have hoped, Kelly walking off into the sunset would have been perfect but James Watkins is intent on making this as brutal an experience as he can.
There are people in this world that are just like if not worse than those kids, this film i belive is making a statement that todays bad behaved kids or even well behaved are the way they are due to there role modles or lack of, be it Parents, friends ect Not saying i do or do not belive this statement by the way/. Anyway ok film. 8/10

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 124

Came in completely cold, and it blew me away. - 23/3/2012 12:10:37 PM

filmfanatic123

Posts: 144
Joined: 22/9/2009
From: Arse End of Nowhere.

So I began my Lovefilm subscription yesterday, and me and my dad settled down to watch a movie. In all honesty, we stumbled upon Eden Lake, and watched it completely cold - with no prior information.
It's horrifically gritty, stunningly shot and brutally violent - the scene with the torture is enough to make you feel physically sick - but one thing underpins it all, fantastic performances.
Fassbender could be the type of actor to think that all this is below him, but he plays it perfectly straight, making the film better as a result. The kids are exceptionally terrifying and Reilly descends violently into anger as the movie rolls on.
The final couple of shots are enough to make you feel just like Reilly - angry and shocked - but there is a moral here and if I spoil it it'd spoil the film.
I will say one thing though - it isn't just the kids that are terrifying...

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Post #: 125

Eden Lake Review - 21/5/2012 10:11:33 AM

the film man

Posts: 598
Joined: 13/10/2010

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

(in reply to Empire Admin)

Post #: 126