Eden Lake (2008) on Netflix
Jenny, a nursery teacher, and her boyfriend Steve camp beside a secluded lake. A gang of rowdy teenagers led by Brett descends on their campsite, and their quiet weekend comes apart.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.7/10112,888 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes78%
Trailer
Plot summary
Jenny, a nursery teacher, and her boyfriend Steve leave for a weekend away. Steve, who plans to propose, has chosen a quiet lake ringed by woodland. After a night in a nearby town, where the locals seem strange to them, they drive into the forest and set up camp by the water. A gang of rowdy teenagers, led by Brett, turns up at their campsite and will not leave them alone. The youths take the couple's belongings and wreck their car, stranding them, and the couple finds their food infested with insects. When Steve goes to confront the group, tempers flare and he is attacked.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Eden Lake (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film drew a backlash for its portrayal of working-class Britons: The Sun condemned its "nasty suggestion that all working-class people are thugs", while The Daily Telegraph concluded that "this ugly witless film expresses fear and loathing of ordinary English people".
- Owen Jones cites the film at length in his 2011 book Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class as an example of media demonisation of proletarian youth, commenting that "here was a film arguing that the middle classes could no longer live alongside the quasi-bestial lower orders."
- The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw drew parallels with Straw Dogs, Deliverance and Blue Remembered Hills, and said "this looks to me like the best British horror film in years: nasty, scary and tight as a drum," calling it "relentlessly upsetting."
- Eden Lake is grouped with "hoodie horror", a cycle of horror films exploring concerns over "Broken Britain", alongside Outlaw (2007), Summer Scars (2007), The Disappeared (2008), Heartless (2009), Harry Brown (2009) and Cherry Tree Lane (2010).
