Eden Lake (2008)

Director: James Watkins
Starring: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender
Certificate: 18
Genre: horror
Rating: **** - good
Review: Eden Lake is, ultimately, another torture porn film. You can see similarities between this and films like The Hills Have Eyes. With chilling performances from Jack O'Connell (whom you may have seen in Skins), this film will make you squirm, and shock you into utter silence. There is, for example, one scene in which you see (extremely clearly) a young boy stick a knife into a man's mouth, and wiggle it from side to side. Another scene - a woman impales her foot on a spike, then has to remove it. This film is not actually as scary as it is made out to be, just extremely gory and distressing. The only scary thought is actually that it could happen. As much as the film is good and exciting, it does stray from what could actually happen in a few places, for example the ending (which is bleak), and also a scene in which a young lad is set on fire. Alive.