British horror film EDEN LAKE on DVD & Blu-ray (Jan 6) - out now!

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

They wanted to get away from it all
- instead they found... EDEN LAKE

"You don't watch it, you survive it. A battering experience, and the hardest Brit horror in years." -Empire Magazine

EDEN LAKE on DVD and Blu-ray »

On January 6, The Weinstein Company and Genius Products will release the indie UK horror film "Eden Lake" on DVD and Blu-ray, under their Dimension Extreme label. The film stars British actress Kelly Reilly (Pride and Prejudice) and German actor Michael Fassbender (300), and features the directorial debut of James Watkins, who is the screenwriter of next summer's The Descent: Part 2.

Brief synopsis - As an engagement surprise, Steve (Fassbender) takes his girlfriend Jenny (Reilly) on a camping trip to a secluded lake. When a gang of "yoofs" steal their car, Steve confronts them, leading to a brutal act of violence.

Production Note excerpt (from Fangoria.com) -
In the film, it's the children who deliver the beatings, as writer/helmer Watkins presents a scenario ripped from British headlines about violent youth sometimes referred to as "chavs," junior hooligans who have no respect for authority or compunctions about reacting violently when their actions are questioned or challenged.

The title refers to a luxury housing tract that's about to be put up at the site of an old quarry, and there's a subtext about its adolescent villains striking back at the moneyed invasion of their blue-collar domain. The irony is that Steve (Michael Fassbender), who brings girlfriend Jenny (Kelly Reilly) on a camping weekend at the quarry, is also regretful about the march of progress overwhelming the swimming area he so enjoys. But he never has a chance to explain that to the group of teens who soon invade the idyllic beach, disturbing the couple with loud music on a radio and a threatening dog. Steve confronts the gang about the intrusion, and things don´t go well, and then they start to go very unwell, to the point where barbed wire, knives and broken glass are involved.

Before things become severely harrowing, the narrative makes an unwise literal and figurative detour that saps both tension and plausibility from the narrative, before getting back on track for a second half that doesn´t offer too many new wrinkles to the survival-in-the-woods subgenre, but lays out its brutal events with compelling panache.

There's more than a touch of THE DESCENT's evocative atmosphere of isolation here--no surprise given that producer Christian Colson, production designer Simon Bowles, editor Jon Harris and composer David Julyan all encore from Neil Marshall's modern masterpiece, and it's equally unsurprising that Watkins was tapped to script the upcoming DESCENT 2. Unlike the possessed/alien kids of many past chillers, the "little terrors" here are simply products of their neglectful/abusive environment, a theme that grounds EDEN LAKE's terrors in the uncomfortably realistic and familiar, and which is hammered home at the finale, which is despairing in more than one way.

EDEN LAKE has sparked some on-line debate as to whether it's a realistic or responsible mirror of the real-life problems with violent youth in Britain. However one stands on that issue--or whether you have a stand at all--that certainly gives the film a greater level of interest.

"Director Watkins delivers a muscular chiller straddling action/horror terrain... with Chris Ross' widescreen lensing highlighted by effective aerial shots." -Dennis Harvey, Variety

EDEN LAKE - Explore the film further:

» Official EDEN LAKE Website (U.K.) »
(Trailer, Video Clips, Gallery Pics, etc - note: the DVD & BD editions shown are for the UK market)

Rated R for strong brutal violence, pervasive language, some nudity and brief drug use.

At this time, the only confirmed bonus features for the U.S. DVD and Blu-ray is a "Making of" featurette. We expect that additional content will be announced soon, as the U.K. editions include the following extras:

• Interview with James Watkins
• Interview with Kelly Reilly
• Interview with Thomas Turgoose
• Interview with Michael Fassbender
• Interview with Christian Colson
• Behind the scenes
• Q & A with director James Watkins
• Theatrical Trailer
• Extreme Trailer
• TV spots

Full Synopsis:
An Unforgettable Weekend
- the Battle for Survival Begins.
Refusing to let anything spoil their romantic weekend break, a young couple confront a gang of loutish youths with terrifyingly brutal consequences...

Like a bad dream turned worst nightmare, Eden Lake is a "relentlessly tense and immaculately paced" (Twitch Film) 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. Eden Lake is "fierce, thought-provoking... and genuinely shocking" (Time Out London).

Nursery teacher Jenny and her boyfriend Steve, escape for a romantic weekend away. Steve, planning to propose, has found an idyllic setting: a remote lake enclosed by woodlands and seemingly deserted. The couple's peace is shattered when a gang of obnoxious kids encircles their campsite. Reveling in provoking the adults, the gang steals the couple's belongings and vandalizes their car leaving them completely stranded. When Steve confronts them, tempers flare and he suffers a shocking and violent attack. Fleeing for help, Jenny is subject to a brutal and relentless game of cat-and-mouse as she desperately tries to evade her young pursuers and find her way out of the woods. Exhausted and distraught, she finally arrives back to the safety of the town... and meets the parents.

---

Please Note - More details:
Be sure to check out the full details under related releases.

For other releases:
DVD & Blu-ray release calendar »

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---