Not sure I can tell you much about my feelings for this film without vague spoilers, so… WARNING and such.
This is a bleak film, sliding into the revenge genre to sit alongside Straw Dogs. It’s a revenge film that both offers the catharsis that makes the genre so amazing, and gives us bleakness that sits right at home with the late aughts nihilism birthed from the French New Wave of horror. There is nothing fun about Eden Lake. It’s great, because of the performances and the tension, as well as a bit of that good old fashioned catharsis, but also leaves you feeling as grimy as the main character. This also slots interestingly into the folk horror genre (go with me here) as it involves a privileged couple stepping into a world they don’t quite understand or belong in, and reapin the consequences thereof. Well worth a watch, but likely not two.
