Writer: Syahida Kamarudin

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Watch this if you liked: "The Descent", "Funny Games"

Here's a thought - if you're having problems (money, relationship, or anything else that drives you to the brink of self destruction), then this movie is suitable for you. By the time it ends, you'll remember nothing about your problems, just blood-curdling screams and a lot of gore. This bloody movie (not swearing, but a fact) will leave you feeling uncomfortable and absolutely unwilling to eat or to shop for several hours.

Kudos to the Brits for their ability to make a horror movie without any spiritual elements. Using the issue of juvenile delinquency, the movie takes the subject to another level. No, there are no scarlet monsters lurking inside a cave, nor white shrilling ghosts haunting the forest. What director and writer James Watkin wants to show is the monstrosity of an ignorant community, stapled on the faces of a group of hooligans that enjoy harassing people to the point of horror.

Sure, the movie has its fair share of cliches and annoying scenes (like the fact that main character Jenny keeps making one bad decision after another while having young lunatics hot on her heels) but Kelly Reilly does a fine job in bringing out the sense of fear and determination. The audience is shown how the character develops, from being a sweet, child-loving nursery teacher to a woman who kills in desperation to stay alive. The actors who play the group of rascals give an interesting performance, and they will make you hate them so much that you want to lurch at the screen with a knife.

Guess what - Eden Lake isn't that picturesque to begin with. Not worth having yourself slaughtered in anyway.

In short, this isn't a movie for the faint-hearted, not to mention pregnant women and children. Especially children. Ye have been warned.

Cinema Online, 05 February 2009