This was both an excellent and horrible follow up to The Loved Ones. Excellent because both films share many themes including horrifying young people, torture, and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. It was a horrible choice because now I feel like shit after that double-whammy of bleak horror.
Steve (Michael Fassbender!) plans on proposing to his girlfriend, Jenny, on their weekend getaway to Eden Lake, an old favorite of Steve's. Upon arrival, we see that this place is in the white trash boonies of England. You could call these people chavs, lots of "you wot mate?" and the like. Steve and Jenny make their way to the beach to camp, but their setup is disrupted by some unruly teens. When Steve asks them to turn down their music, they're all like "you wot mate?" (I told you that's what they say) and basically refuse to back down. Because Fassbender is a grown ass man, he keeps his composure instead of bustin' skulls. The kids eventually leave and the two continue their camping fun.
The following day, the couple discovers one of their bags is missing, and in it are the car keys. They immediately notice the car is gone too and begin searching for the kids, whom they assume stole the car. When they do, Steve calmly asks for his keys, phone, and wallet, yet the leader of the gang (played by the guy who played Cook in Skins, who is also an ill-tempered shit) acts like he doesn't know what Steve is talking about. As Steve advances, one of the others pulls a knife, and thus, a struggle ensues. During this, the gang's dog gets loose and goes to attack Steve, who is able to break free with the knife just as the dog lunges, killing the dog (seriously how many fucking dogs [and other pets] are going to die in these movies?).
Brett, the leader and dog's owner, breaks down from is tough guy persona, showing real love for the dog. It'd be touching moment if he hadn't been acting like such a twat for the entire time we've seen him (and the worst is yet to come).
Spoilers and the like ahead
After the death of his dog, Brett and his gang hunt down Steve and Jenny, eventually capturing Steve to torture him. Tied up in barbed wire and being choked by a dog chain, Steve pleads for his life, promising not to say anything to the police if they let him go. We see the rest of the gang really for the first time in this scene and you realize that most of the kids are really young, maybe 13 or 14. Brett forces each of them to cut Steve while they record it so that no one in the gang will rat. He even threatens one of them with the knife. Not only is he torturing Steve, but he's mentally torturing these younger boys, corrupting them through fear.
Like Funny Games, the horror really begins with something of a forced miscommunication followed by the perpetrators acting like victims. Brett acts as though Fassbender killed his dog with malicious intent, conveniently forgetting that it was Brett himself who stole the car, his friend who pulled the knife in the first place, and his girlfriend who was unable to control the vicious dog, which was some mean looking breed (I know that breeds are inherently more violent or whatever, but this dog could have seriously injured someone).
It makes it so frustrating to watch people who have truly done no wrong. I know that is part of the point of this movie, and a major element of where the horror comes from, but Jesus Christ does this movie take the wind out of your sails. Every time you think they might catch a break, nope, back into hell.
Speaking of hell, one of these hopeful moments comes when Jenny runs into a local boy, Adam, who was picked on by the gang earlier in the movie. She begs him to help her get back into town and he agrees to take her to where his mom is picking him up. Of course something doesn't feel right and he actually just led her to a trap. She manages to escape again when the fire they set to burn her alive ended up just burning her restraints.
"Come back or we'll burn this fucking kid [Adam]!"
But she keeps running, and as she does, we hear the sound of a blood-curdling scream, followed by a brief shot of the boy running around on fire. I mean, fuuuuuck. Like, I didn't have a ton of sympathy for this kid considering he just sold Jenny out, but come on, did he deserve to be burned alive? Obviously not. But this scene was crucial in solidifying just how insane and determined to kill all witnesses Brett is. Something clicks in Jenny, a determination to live no matter what the cost.
After evading most of them, the youngest of the gang, who has been wanting to stop this from the start, comes up behind Jenny presumably to help end the madness. Unfortunately, Jenny is unaware of his motives and rams a piece of glass in his neck killing the boy. Realizing what she's done, Jenny breaks down cradling the boy, but soon realizes she has to continue on.
When the gang finds the body, one of the boys insists they stop this, but this only angers Brett further. He begins to pummel the boy. I mean, a truly savage beating. Though the camera never shows it, I think he killed the boy. Brett is officially gone mentally.
In her final escape, Jenny manages to steal a car, run over one of the gang (this time with no remorse), and make it back into town, running into the first house she finds. They immediately come to her aid, but while tending to her cuts one of them gets a frantic phone call. We can't hear who's on the other line, but it's all coming together for both us and Jenny. Of all the fucking houses in this town, she winds up in the house of one of parents of these little fuckers.
"We take care of our own," Brett's father insists, as the bathroom door closes with Jenny and several of the dads inside. The camera pans upstairs as we hear horrible screaming. Brett looks smugly in his mirror as he puts on Steve's stolen sunglasses.
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| Roll credits... |
Rating on the Spook-o-meter: 7 out of 10 boos
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