Eden Lake is a relentlessly tense and immaculately paced horror-thriller about modern youth gone wild. When a young couple goes to a remote wooded lake for a romantic getaway, their quiet weekend is shattered by an aggressive group of local kids. Rowdiness quickly turns to rage as the teens terrorize the couple in unimaginable ways, and a weekend outing becomes a bloody battle for survival.
The film's one major fault is that Reilly's character repeatedly acts in ways that serve the plot, but which run contrary to rational human behaviour. By contrast, the shattering downbeat ending is well earned and genuinely shocking.
– Nigel Floyd,
Time Out,
12 Sep 2008
fresh:
...while Eden Lake is effective, something feels not quite right about cheering for prepubescent kids to get their fatal comeuppance.
– Luke Y. Thompson,
L.A. Weekly,
13 Oct 2008
fresh:
An effectively harrowing Brit thriller-cum-horror pic whose yuppie protags' weekend getaway runs violently afoul of the local youth.