4/5 POTENT MODERN HORROR
  by Tim Janson (Michigan)
The Dimension Extreme series has been a mixed bag when it comes to quality but Eden Lake is a BIG step up! This is a film that is relentless and unapologetic in its brutality and violence. It is made all the more unnerving because this isn't your typical exaggerated horror violence that makes audiences roar, but rather realistically visceral. It's one of the more unsettling horror films I have seen in a long time.

Jenny and Steve have taken a holiday out to a lake in the English countryside where Steve plans to ask Jenny to marry him. Their tranquil vacation is interrupted almost immediately by a group of six loud and obnoxious teens. While Jenny pleads with Steve to move to another part of the lake, he instead confronts the youths and finds them to be the epitome of English hoodlums.

Insults escalate first into vandalism to their SUV, and then the theft of the vehicle when Steve makes the mistake of leaving his keys on the beach while he and Jenny go for a swim. This is just the start of a breakneck thrill ride. Jenny and Steve are soon on the run from the group when Steve accidentally kills Brett's, the gangs leader's dog. Brett is an ordinary teenager but he is frankly far more terrifying than Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kreuger, or any other film boogeyman. When you have a person who is ready to kill two people because his dog died, you know you're dealing with a true psychopath.

Brett has total control of the rest of the gang. He uses fear and intimidation to get even the youngest boy to go along with his plot. The viciousness comes to a head when Steve is captured and bound with barbed wire and Brett forces each of the gang to take turns cutting Steve with knives or box cutters. All the while, he has his girlfriend record the torture on her cell phone. It's a scene that's hard to watch and yet you are enthralled by the performance by Jack O' Connell who plays Brett. It's a remarkably chilling performance by a kid who is only 18 years old.

Kelly Reilly as Jenny also provides a fantastic performance. You see her transformed from a schoolteacher into a killer driven over the edge by the night's events. In one scene, she's covered in muck and mud from head to toe and looks at her reflection in some glass. It is here when you can virtually see her mind teeter on the edge of sanity.

This was the first film directed by James Watkins who also wrote the script. and what a debut it is! While the plot may not be original, Watkins skillfully sends it off into uncharted territory. In films like these you normally want to see the antagonists get what's coming to them but here, they are kids, coerced into joining along by Brett. You find yourself actually sympathizing with most of them because they are just kids (and look like it, too!) and that is where Watkins truly shined as a Director. A brilliant horror film and one you absolutely must see!


3/5 Eden: Not a Paradise
  by Mouve E. Freeke (Indiana)
Let me say first that there was one thing in the movie that kept it from being a "5" for me. I won't tell you what that part is as I just don't do much of giving a plot away. Instead, I will tell you why I might have given it a "5". The movie was well-done, the actors/actresses did an extremely good job in their parts. The good guys were good; the bad guys were bad. The suspense was incredible and I couldn't take my eyes from the screen. It was not a good vs. evil movie; it was more of an innocent vs. guilty movie. The film was one in which society's woes are seen in the behavior of its children. I have seen violent children. I have seen children that I feel will become or already are sociopaths. I have also seen the intensity of teenagers carry itself away to the extreme. All of that was explored in the movie and dipicted brutally. I will not say that there were any particular points in which the film failed. What it meant to show you, it did, graphically and in intricate detail. If you are a person with strong feelings of love, caring, and justice, you will not walk away from this film unscathed; in fact, it will haunt you. A good film? Yes. My type of film overall? No.

5/5 wow
  by Joseph K. Pack (down south)
This movie scared the bejesus right out of me.. wow.. dont even think theres a happy bright ending....it is the most frightening movie ive seen since Texas chainsaw Massacre

5/5 Probably one of the most believable horror films in recent years
  by Mackenzie Jennings (FL United States)
I have to vouch for some of the other reviewers -- the survivalist horror film Eden Lake is an utterly wrenching movie, one that left me stomachachy for days, probably due to its realism. The "Chav" sub-culture puts American bullies to shame as these kids are virtually primal in their vengeance. The sociopathic leader was especially numbing to watch when he used his friends and, essentially, blackmailed them all into extreme acts of viciousness. To the reviewer who thought the ending was appropriate (not to mention exceedingly dark and helpless), I completely agree. (The proverbial fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, if you get my meaning!)

5/5 Movie With a Twist
  by Crystal Hurlburt
This scary/thriller movie was made differently; than other scary movies. It's about a couple in love, who go to a nice lake in the woods. Except, they discover their is rebellious teens who victimize them. I will not ruin the entire movie. However, the ending has a twist, along with seeing why teens learn the things they do in life. Also, I like the british way the movie was made.