Eden Lake (Dir. James Watkins, 2008)

Well... This might actually be a first (and last, hopefully) in my existence. I was sick in my mouth during a horror film.

Let me explain what happened....
At the moment I am in the final throes of my MA dissertation, my chosen subject area was the white trash monster and its persistence at times of conflict and in my final chapter I decided to compare the American 'white trash' to the British 'chav' in the way they are both a demonisation of the working class.

After being encouraged by some friends in the academic sphere I thought 'I'm a friggin' genius' and proceeded to watch (and in some cases, re-watch) the cream of the recent 'Hoodie Horror' cycle of films.

I had never watched Eden Lake before, but as it has Michael Fassbender (Who I believe is one of the greatest actors of our time) in it and seemed to tick my boxes in terms of blood shed, I thought I would give it a whirl.

Now that I have set the scene, let me draw you a picture of myself, mid way through the film.

It's not a pretty picture, it involves me holding my hand over my mouth, stomach in spasm as a boxcutter dances the light fantastic inside Michael Fassbender's mouth.

Eden Lake is possibly one of the most brutal and terrifying films I have ever seen. This is, you must keep in mind, from a girl that was thoroughly un-squicked by A Serbian Film, that laughed gayly at The Human Centipede (first and full sequence) and merely asked questions about the anatomical accuracy of the contents of an eyeball stalk when watching Hostel. I'm a hard cookie when it comes to horror. Please bear that in mind.

I think the reason why Eden Lake terrified me is that it is all so plausible, it is so realistic and could happen. Growing up on a council estate in North West London, these kids are the kids I knew. I think it is doubly frightening for me as not only did I know these kids, if my parents had not got the breaks that they did, I may well have been one of these kids, instead of my current identification alignment with the well to do couple, Jenn and Steve.

I think most people have been in the situation where they want to say something to a boy spitting in the street, or a group of kids with a big mean looking dog, pulling back the lead to make the dog rear up at you when you walk past with your fags clutched tightly to your chest at 11.00pm outside Spar, this film's resounding message was "Leave it, yeah?" (Lethal Bizzle, I salute you)

This is not to say I hate the film, or that it is in any way a 'bad' film. It is stunning in terms of it's cinematography, the young actors are superb (Especially Finn Atkins and the actor that was beaten by the 'Brett' character whose name escapes me... but kudos, young sir). This film was a strong contender for 'double cigarette at the end to calm down' award. I was left with a feeling of seething anger, a strong emotion that no film before has left me with. In short, I am glad people are making these films, but I will never sit through this one again.