Eden Lake - Horrible, but very effective

Eden Lake is about a young couple from the south of England, who go camping by none other than `Eden Lake' in the midlands, as part of a romantic getaway. However, their plans go slightly astray when they run into a bunch of local kids - a situation which quickly descends into a pretty gruesome encounter.

There's not too much new in the way of plot, but what I thought elevated it above the normal `real' horror films (i.e. those without monsters or killer video tapes) is that the two central characters do the things that most sane people would do. In other words, they try to escape, rather than run around in circles like headless chickens.

There you have it - a group of youngsters stalks an innocent couple (think `Deliverance' but with Chavs). If that's your thing, you might like it. It's kind of like one of those `home invasion' movies (only not at home, obviously) like Funny Games or The Strangers.

However, it also (believe it or not) raises a few more questions than your average film of the genre. Some have commented on how it portrays `middle-class' as `good' and `poor' as `bad,' not to mention a few other shocks and surprises that I won't go into. Perhaps your enjoyment of the film depends on who you empathise with more. Check online - there are some interesting comments made regarding the (obvious) villains of the film.

Of course, if you don't want to delve too deeply, just enjoy it for a pretty nasty horror ordeal.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that