One of Typically British Horror Stories

Eden Lake Movie

Story

Stephen Taylor welcomes his girlfriend, a nursery teacher (Jenny), to invest the weekend in Eden Lake, an idyllic and remote location in the woods. However, what Steve actually wishes to do while they are away is propose to Jenny. While camping at the lake shore, they are interrupted by a gang of youths. The next day, the couple understands that they have been robbed and are stranded in the woods without their car. While walking through the forest attempting to reach the road, Steve and Jenny meet the gang and they are extremely assaulted.

Steve is caught by the youths while Jenny is looks for an escape of the woods with the wrongdoers chasing her.

This kind of narrative shows a normal British Scary film because we see; the blood from where charcters have actually been assaulted, the weapons utilized, charcters being issolated, huge forest areas, the lady being left on her own to protect for herself and so on.

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However this also contradicts what a British Scary film is since we don't see the normal plot to a movie. When people typically consider British Horror films they believe of; a dangerous/villian guy, the ghost/monster like character or the climatic music used within the movie. However with Eden Lake the villian is a group of youths which is very different to the stereotypical Birtish Horror films so this gives the movie a piece of originallity.

Characters

The characters within Eden Lake make the movie British immediately due to the fact that they are British themselves so they will not need to use an accent as much whilst acting or change much about themselves.

We see the likes of stars Jack O'Connell, Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and others. These are highly rated and well known British actors playing the characters in Eden Lake. The characters within the movie also reveal the distinction in between specific classes within Britain. Them being; middle and lower class. The middle class characters being Jenny and Steve who are plainly wealthy and have the ability to treat themselves to particular high-ends. This is due to the fact that we see Steve driving a 4x4 car which is a product of luxury and status, then we also see that he has bought an engagement ring for Jenny which looks rather pricey.

Whereas we see the other characters in the film such as Brett, Cooper, Paige who are in the lower class of Britain not have these luxuries. They dress rather ‘chav’ like and so do their parents. This also gives us the representation that the children are a lot like their parents. So as the film evolves and we realise that Brett has been a sufferer of child abuse because of his father, making the audience realise this is why Brett is capable of what he has done to Jenny and Steve because he has become a manmade monster (a product of his father).

The classes are also shown by the way the characters speak and use their body language. For example the lower class characters often swear and come across as aggressive which is what a lot of British people think of them. Then the middle class characters are well spoken, they are very judgemental of situations and do not like to cause conflict. However this representation I believe is unfair because anyone can be aggressive towards people or swear a lot just because they are part of the lower class within Britain does not mean they are all like this.

Location

The location in which Eden Lake is set in is very British because we see the vast countryside, a lot of forest but then also the local communities within their pubs and corner shops etc… This is typically British because near enough every single town or city in Britain has a pub, café, corner shop and so on. The place in which Steve wants to take Jenny 9Eden Lake) is very British because we see the quiet, rural area. This is the type of place in which people who want a quiet weekend away in the countryside would want to go in Britain.

Conclusion

All together I believe that Eden Lake does strecth quite far to prove that it is a typical British Horror film because we see alot of British themed stereotypes, the typical British location, the slightly typical story line and so on.