430: Eden Lake (2008)

This week we're heading into the woods for the patron-selected Eden Lake (2008). We break down its bleak Broken Britain energy, question the believability of its antagonists, and unpack an ending that left us cold. This episode contains spoilers, beginning at 22:02.

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Mentioned in the Episode

Watch the Movie

Eden Lake (2008)

Main Episode

Broken Britain

Jack O'Connell

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Music Credits

"Hack or Slash" by Daniel Stapleton

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

I wonder how many people are gonna clip you saying the word gushing and save it for nefarious deeds. Knowing me, yeah, for sure. Gushing. In the late 2000s, a wave of British horror films emerged that reflected growing anxieties around youth, class, and a culture often framed by headlines about so-called broken Britain. This week's film arrived during precisely that moment and grounded its story in a familiar setup. A couple escaping the city for a quiet weekend by a remote lake, hoping for privacy, space, and time away from everything else. That plan unravels, though, when they cross paths with a group of local teenagers and what begins as a tense clash over territory escalates into something far more dangerous, and ultimately turns an isolated getaway into a fight to make it back home. The film premiered at Fantasy Film Fest in August 2008 before receiving a theatrical release in the UK that September, positioning it firmly within a cycle of horror that blurred the lines between social fears and survival storytelling. This week, we're talking about Eden Lake. Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back! If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Total joke, a waste of time, or a slash. Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the paranormal paramour, Binx. Fuck off, yumpy hunts. Today's episode is brought to you by our patrons who all voted in this specific film to our lineup. Now you're tuning in for Eden Lake, but if you're one of those patrons, you're also going to get to hear our B-side at the end of this episode where we unpack the worst possible places to propose to your significant other.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

This movie was nominated by Marnie, who said, I think this movie is very underrated and well acted, written, etc. Although it does have a bleak ending, I appreciate the movie for what it was doing. I am also British, and I think British horror deserves more recognition.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

I am at least excited to get some more British horror recognition. But for now, Bing said you've seen this one before.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I hadn't. I had not seen it before. Definitely heard of it. I think so a lot of our listeners actually have talked about this movie. I'd seen it been nominated at least once or twice, so glad that we finally got to it at least.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

I have only heard about this from our listeners. And can we just acknowledge the fact that we're in a season right now where Sinners is getting 16 nominations? We had 28 years later, we had 28 years later, the Bone Temple. Jack O'Connell's really having a moment, and now he's here baby faced in Eden Lake. Too much Jack O'Connell in a movie for me.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Oh, I don't know. I can have Jack O'Connell at any time, at any hour. I was very surprised by his presence, by the way. Did not even know he was in this movie.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Yeah, absolutely shocking. Hearing what I did about this movie, a lot of the sentiment I got was good luck, or oh damn, braced yourself. So I had a really weird expectation going into this because I thought it was gonna be almost incredibly brutal and disturbing. And I guess there are some scenarios in which you could describe this film as such, but not to the level of at least the vibe that I was getting. This seems more like a movie that was bleak over anything else.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Yeah, I'm with you on that. I think at the very least, I expected this to be a little bit like high tension, probably because of the movie poster. That's kind of all I really had for context. And just listeners talking about it, but nothing that was too like plot giving away, right? Like I didn't really see much of what this movie was about from their conversations. So I'm going off of the movie poster. It seems like it definitely has that grit to it, made me think that, you know, this could be a movie where a woman's deserted, you know, in the woods, getting into some fucked up business, that torture porn stuff, unfortunately. I mean, it is 2008, it's the early 2000s, so we had plenty of that, right? But that's all I kind of had going for it. I wasn't sure what else to expect, much less the cast, which also surprised me there, too.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Yeah, Michael Fastbender, what the hell is that? Steve Jobs is in this movie, folks. Steve Jobs made a cameo. Absolutely wild stuff. And man, for as much as I was expecting some brutality in this movie, let me just say I was actually pretty bored watching it. And for a significant amount of time, and that's not to a full discredit of this movie. Once it gets going, it gets going in a direction that is perceivably forward. But I made the mistake of watching this. I should have just rented it, but I watched it on a streaming platform called Pluto, and then I switched over to Tubi, both of which had ads, and I'm confident you can find it somewhere else. But Binx, I started this movie and tried watching it three times, got 75% of the way through the movie, and then had to keep restarting the movie because I just couldn't get through not only the pacing, but then the ad breaks. It was a rough experience. So I I re-watched it today without that, just to give it a fair shake.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Let's be honest. Those ad breaks had to have been longer than the movie itself. It's an hour and a half movie, I'm sure it became almost a three-hour flick.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

It was painful and honestly a very disrespectful experience to this movie. What I can appreciate is this movie's incredibly brief runtime. Now, there is a lot of it that does feel slow, don't get me wrong. But even without that, this movie felt like it was stretching on for an eternity.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I'm with you on that. I it's funny. I watched this with my best friend, and we were like, what is it about movies next to a lake that feels like it's always a slow burn at the start? Doesn't it feel that way? It's almost like, okay, lakeside, it's kind of relaxing, chill atmosphere. So is that what it's going for? Because I don't know what it is. It always feels like when it's by a lake, it's a slow start. Maybe Friday the 13th is I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

I don't think Friday the 13th had the slowest situation.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Nighthouse? Right, but Nighthouse does have is a little bit of a slower start. You said you watched Bone Lake. Was that also a little bit of a slow start?

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Actually, it was. By the time that movie gets going, it's also so horny that you forget how slow it is.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Oh, so it's like slow sex. Damn. I would just say that something about that slow start I can I can agree with you on. Now, for me though, I watched it straight through, luckily no ads, but it was one of those experiences where I was like, all right, this is definitely gonna be a film filled with stupid decisions to make a point, one after the other after the other. It was the entire hour and 30 minutes. Now, again, I'm gonna try and like give it some grace because early 2000s, and we've seen a few of those, right? But it was kind of feeling like The Strangers, funny games, some of my favorite movies of all time, but doesn't quite have that same stakes and tension, right? Like it's trying to be something, it's quite not there.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

I could not stop thinking about the strangers when watching this movie. Actually, two movies that I couldn't stop thinking about. One, The Strangers, to what keeps you alive. Listener, up to you to decide which way I'm fucking going with this. Now, in retrospect, when you say high tension, maybe I can consider that too. But where the strangers had a couple goes to a remote getaway in an isolated environment and they're terrorized by people, that felt terrifying. The problem with this movie, and what is perhaps my biggest disappointment with this movie, is how absolutely unbelievable the antagonists are in it. This movie, we're back with fuck them kids, baby. We're back. It's just a reality of it, but it's nothing that I can latch on to. And I hate that because it's not like Jack O'Connell and company do a bad job. This movie has really strong performances in it, but it asks me to believe in something that I just cannot latch on to, and there is absolutely zero suspension of disbelief.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

I'm with you, and I really tried to give it the benefit of the doubt on that one as well, and tried to make excuses for it. That at one point I was like, all right, what am I doing here? What am I? The PR agent for this movie? Like, why am I trying to defend it so much? You know, it's been maybe about an hour or two since I finished the movie, and I've already exhausted myself trying to reason with some of those decisions again. And it's like, I'm here for the Jack O'Connell Leads a cult universe. It's a cinematic universe at this point, okay? He's got the charm, he's got the appeal, so much so that he can get people to do all kinds of crazy things, apparently. But at this young of an age, it's a it's a little tough.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Okay. I forgot to name a third movie that I thought of when watching this movie, and that was Hunger Games. Tell me he couldn't be a district one or district two kid.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Absolutely. But think about that, right? At least the environment in the scenario calls for doing outrageous things, right? For survival. But what kind of fuck around and find out movie is this?

SPEAKER_02 9:40

This movie is not just fuck around and find out. This is I'm gonna dance around and then shrug my shoulders and say boys will be boys, and then find out that I should have fucking made a different decision.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

I'm with you. I'm with you on that one. Also, there's just some some opportunities here that I think were just missed. And a lot of that I feel could have been in the fright factor, right? Because this is also just not that scary of a movie. It's really not scary at all. No. I would argue, I would argue that this is a thriller, right? Like what's scary about this? Maybe the circumstance, we can always go back to that, right? But I think yes, MCR said it best. Teenagers scare the living shit out of me, for sure. Valid. But there's some elements here that are introduced, especially at the very ends, that it just makes it a little more unrealistic than it already is. And that's where I struggle, and that's where I think a lot of viewers could struggle a bit. It's gonna be more entertaining than scary, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

I agree with that, except for the fact that I didn't really find this even entertaining because again, this movie is bleak. This movie's just a feel bad time. It's not scary, it's not joyous, it's not so bad it's good, it's not let me linger in this and really enjoy the brutality and like the uppance that comes at some point. This is just start to end, what you want to happen is very unlikely to actually happen, which I think makes this movie a bit of a bummer for me. And why I can still look at this and say, okay, sure, we have bits of Hunger Games, we have bits of The Strangers, we have bits of what keeps you alive. There's so many different movies that have come before this and after it that you can just chop this up in a blender and come up with virtually the same product. But what I will say is there is something specifically about this movie and Jack O'Connell's crew that makes it feel a little bit different. For all the things I felt or even didn't feel in this movie, I can at least say this will be memorable.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

That's fair. That's fair, but it's interesting, right? Because I'm like, we've named already a few movies that have the same air-ish to this. It just feels a little bit more crisp, a little bit more enjoyable. And I think that for this movie, it yes, feels just slightly different. But when I think of James Watkins, the director, right? I think, well, he did speak no evil, the most recent one. We reviewed that. We did the same. You're right. You know, we did that versus. And so it tracks because what is speak no evil, the modern version versus the old one. It's a watered-down vanilla safe version of bleak. So it's funny that it seems like we kind of are aligning on this movie when you and I typically, when it comes to bleak films, are very different in opinion. I can do the bleak, I like the bleak when it has a message and a purpose. And it feels like here, again, it's the tryhard without a real good purpose.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Exactly. And it really loses any purpose that it had with its ending. This movie built what could be described not as goodwill, but at least will, and then completely pulls the rug out from under you at this ending. Now, I can see a world in which people love it. And what I have heard in the time since watching this five different times to get this going, I have heard people say, damn, that ending, it feels bad, but it's good. And like it hits you and it sticks with you. I can respect it for that, but I don't think it was a good ending. I don't think it was a good way to wrap up this story at all. I think we need something a little bit more definitive.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Oh, I'm with you 100%. This was really the pinnacle of cliche enforced to me. I felt like it was almost like clear to me that they were really, really trying to the bitter end to be a very big, like bleak think piece almost, and have you wondering and just feeling terrible. But I didn't even really feel terrible because unfortunately for this film, I also didn't feel a damn thing for a lot of these characters either. So when we get to the very end, it also was like, okay. I mean, I felt a little bit, sure, for the main characters, slightly, right? The couple, but I think ultimately I was hoping that by the end something would actually feel a little bit more real and grounded. But it was, again, I go back to coincidences to the very end. Constant bad luck, a series of unfortunate events to the very last second.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

You know, if you have to lemony snicket your way into an ending, you really made a misstep.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

And you know what? I'm gonna name drop another film just to kind of, you know, have the people curious. What in the top gun? Okay. What in the top gun was that?

SPEAKER_02 14:41

The pipeline and the assembly line of other movies that we are taking to build this movie is a little outrageous.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

And yet somehow, if we wrote the script, it could be better. Some would argue it would be better.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Maybe, maybe not. I I won't I won't purport myself to be talented enough to pull that off, but that is absolutely diabolical. Now, the other aspect of this, and something that I can actually appreciate, is that this is a bleak film in a bleak moment. And it kind of goes back to what I was talking about in the beginning of this episode about broken Britain. I think this movie is a fascinating examination of this panic that was spreading in Britain around this time, and something that I would say doesn't feel super well executed here, at least for me in terms of just quality of a movie, but it has built enough interest in me to want to seek out other broken Britain horror films and really get into what that's all about.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Yeah, I'm with you there. I think we've talked a little bit about that is even with like the 28 days of it all, right? To an extent. I think dissecting a little bit more of Broken Britain horror films would be so fascinating. Because I think it you could clearly see that it does impact the society in different eras, right? Whether it be something as more recent as the 28 years later film, but we also have the 2008, like early 2000s, just the generational trauma of it all, right? I find interesting, but it is a shame because there's there is plenty of potential here to have that land, and I think it misses the mark, or maybe it was almost too scared to go there.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Well, I can't wait to see how this all translates into our ratings then. But before we get there, things, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Well, unfortunately, this is also gonna get a low gore score because although we see a lot of blood, sure, and some gushing, a lot of the brutality is kind of like at a distance or almost off-camera, or the worst of it, I guess we could say. So I'm gonna channel Sean and I'm gonna say that he would approve of my low gore score because I would imagine he'd be a little disappointed.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

I wonder how many people are gonna clip you saying the word gushing and save it for nefarious deeds.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Knowing me, yeah, for sure. Gushing.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

What about the animal report?

SPEAKER_01 16:58

No. The animal report. Here's what I'll say John Wick and this movie have something in common, and it's that they're both not safe.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Eden Lake from 2008. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Eden Lake had all the pieces to be genuinely unsettling. Obviously, like we've talked about that British class tension, feral teens, that bleak 2008 energy that we've seen in other films of that time, but it just didn't land for me. I I think too many stupid decisions and convenient coincidences kept pulling me out of it. And I kept making excuses for it. I did find it slightly entertaining. It wasn't the worst of times, but I kept thinking about that potential that was there and very clear. And I also kept thinking of the forced nature of it all, right? I wanted to feel the dread, but instead I was just watching people make choice after choice that felt like it was intended just to move the plot along. And the ending is the biggest evidence of that. I think it tried to be this gut punch moment, but instead it felt rushed and rather cliche instead of it being earned. So I would say it's not unwatchable. That's I I'm getting maybe a little too harsh. I don't think it's unwatchable. I think it can be watched. You're gonna have a time, sure, but it's not the gritty masterpiece that I think a lot of people think it is, because I've seen some grit and I've seen some dread and bleak. And this is not that, friends. So it's gonna get a hack.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

You know, I'd be curious to revisit this movie later on in the year. I think this moment that I'm in, just with some personal stuff that's going on, maybe I'm just not good soil for a bleak movie. But when I examine this movie from start to end, even just giving it a shot again without all the ads to really space it out and to really just enjoy the film the way it's intended to be enjoyed, I still found myself unable to feel invested in this film. And it's not even because it's poorly acted, but because the characters give me virtually nothing to latch on to, or to really care one way or another. There are three deaths in this film that I think I actually felt something for, and none of them were from our main characters, really. And that is a concerning bit. For perhaps Binks, what you were mentioning, as as some people maybe feel that this is a gritty masterpiece. I say, What film did you watch? Because for me, this was an emotional labor to get through, but not in the way that feels cathartic, not in a way that feels wow. I watched something that was heavy but worth it, because it really spoke to me. It had a lot to say. This used a lot of words to say genuinely nothing, and that is why it's getting a hack. Now, with that, Eden Lake from 2008, as selected by our patrons. I am so so sorry that we did this to you, but it's getting a universal hack. Now you can find this movie available online. Go check it out, and then join us in the second half so we can unpack the rest of that hack together. We'll see you in a bit. This episode of Hackerslash is brought to you by Engaged in Alive, the proposal planning service that asks one very important question up front. Are you about to ruin your life for a good view? Look, proposing is stressful enough. You've got the ring, the speech, the location you swear is romantic. We get it. You want something intimate, secluded, natural. Somewhere that says, this moment is special and not, there are no streetlights for a reason. But before you hike out to a quarry, lake, forest clearing, or any location described as technically public, Engaged and Alive is there to step in. The last thing you need is a roaming pack of hostile teenagers, or even worse, legal guardians who conflate enabling with parenting. Before you drop to one knee, their experts run a full-scale vetting of your proposal site. They check for territorial youths, unleashed dogs, missing supervision, and any adults who might escalate a minor disagreement into a full civic failure. They'll even flag phrases like, they're just kids and boys will be boys as immediate red alerts. And if the area scores too high on the this could spiral scale, boom, new location, maybe a restaurant, maybe a park, somewhere with lighting, somewhere with witnesses. Somewhere love can happen without requiring a contingency plan. So if you're thinking about proposing somewhere remote, scenic, and deeply ill advised, remember, engaged and alive. Because love is forever, but that weekend getaway doesn't have to be Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Eden Lake from 2008, which has earned a universal hack. Now we have so much to say and unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through those kills.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

So, sure, we've got a few deaths here. Seven, to be exact, but we get a variety of deaths, we could say, right? I mean, we've got blood loss, we've got being burned alive, stabbed in the jugular, a couple off-screen. So my thing is like there was a lot of blood, sure, but I don't think I don't think that there was any bite. Right? So I'm curious to know what was your favorite kill, Chris?

SPEAKER_02 22:45

You know, I don't have a favorite kill in this movie. I think they largely actually no, I guess Paige was a job well done. Good riddance to her. But there's three deaths that made me feel something. And I being so I'm curious to see if you would guess which three of those are.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Is it going to be our contender Death by Jugular Cooper?

SPEAKER_02 23:07

Yep, that is the last of them that made me feel something. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Okay, another guess. Oh, okay. Steve, maybe?

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Not no. Okay. Good answer. Because I mean, I almost thought maybe, because sure, but then also, brother, we're gonna get into you. We're gonna get to you in a second, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 23:31

We're for sure gonna get to him.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Okay, number one, then Bonnie, the dog.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Bonnie is number one, absolutely. So you're just missing number two.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Okay, so I'm missing number two, all right. Not much. Oh, don't tell me Adam. It's Adam.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

I feel bad for Adam. No! I do, I do, I do. I feel bad for Adam. Adam was a punk for snitching, but you know what they say about snitches? They get gutted and sacrificed to Anubis. Really? Yeah, I feel bad for him because listen, they clearly were torturing this kid before. He did what he was conditioned to to survive, and he eventually got doused and gasoline and set on fire, which was absolutely horrific.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

But my thing is, is that you suck, brother. You literally had a moment to just like not participate whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Yeah, but you know how kids are, they be wild. He was trying to curry favor.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Clearly. Which I mean, my goodness, the riz that Brett has, is it because it's Jack O'Connell's cute face or what? I thought he was a little bit of an ugly duckling. Oh, I mean, yeah, because he's a little bit younger, but he's got that British charm. I don't know. Maybe I'm biased. That's fair.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

But I just feel like present-day Jack O'Connell. I think you're thinking of Sinders, Jack O'Connell.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

More importantly. God damn. Anyways, Bianca, wake up. I just feel like, what kind of hold does he have over these people? And more importantly, I guess he inherited it from his father because what is happening in this town that no one has a pair of balls? I'm confused.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

They lack testicular fortitude, they lack a spine, they lack any semblance of courage, dignity, integrity.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

It's the combination of all of those things.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

But that's exactly where I was talking about, going back to this idea of Broken Britain and what people were examining through this lens is just like this degradation of society and a loss of morals or the influence on youth. And that's where I think this movie is probably at its most interesting.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

And I feel like we see bits of that, sure, with the other characters, right? I mean, like Harry or Cooper, I guess, but it just felt a little disappointing at times because I just felt like we could all rally together. We could all get it over with. Now, Paige, I will agree, was a great satisfying kill to the ex to an extent because, girl, I mean, all for the nookie, maybe? What's happening here?

SPEAKER_02 25:57

It was really, really tough to see her fall into that crowd. And for her to be as outwardly miserable made me think, did you get pressured into being into this? I think about the Coopers and the Adams, and you have to wonder if Paige was the same case. Obviously, Brett is a ringleader of sorts. And you have to wonder, had these kids not been around him, what would their lives have been like? And then even Brett, I guess when you think about it, looking at how his father is, there's just a lot here to unpack. It's really indicative of like this cyclical trauma.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

That I wish we had more time in the movie to unpack, too, right? Because that's something that I wish was a little bit like leaned into or introduced earlier on, so that we can really sit with it for a while. But we get a brief moment where we're supposed to believe, okay, all right, it's insinuated that the dad's a bit abusive. But at the very end, when coincidence number 542 happens, okay, the dad is also this kind of controlling person, but loving to an extent? Like, I feel like I would have expected an abusive father to kind of get on his son's case about ruining his party and instead is met with an embrace and protection.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Well, that's the manipulation of abuse. It's not that it has to be one way or the other. Sometimes it's the duality of those two things that almost begs and baits love from Brett's character or respect or admiration, looking to please his father. Like there's a lot that goes into that back and forth, but I think we could have absolutely subtracted at least 30 minutes of woods action and then walking aimlessly in the woods to get a little bit more on the home front.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

They know every twist and turn of a whole entire forest.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

When you have nothing else going on in your life, why wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_01 27:55

My God, though. Every nook and cranny?

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Every nook and cranny. And can we just go back to, I'm sorry, and then we talked about coming back to him, Steve. Steve, who couldn't even really be Peter Mullark, he really got buried semi under some some leaves and some branches, fully exposed from the chest up. Ma'am, you couldn't have thought that was gonna actually work.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

I said we're gonna forget the most important part, which is his head. The part that stands out the most? He looked funny, just a floating head in amongst grass.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

This is absolutely wild. And I will say that I was at least satisfied with him being burned to death.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Call me problematic. But you know, you really got us all in this situation. You couldn't put your pride down, you really couldn't let go of that male fragility.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

The pride, but also the lack of desire to do anything at any point. Let's even think back to when this movie started and he refused to say really anything or do anything or interfere with anybody. He sees these kids being complete jerks, then only says something after the dog went back a second time. Absolutely not. This guy was a problem.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Oh, big time. And it's funny actually, because from Jenny's side, she makes one little comment, one small little comment about like, oh, you're gonna let them do that, XYZ. But she's very quick, like a normal sane woman, to be like, move the hell on. And so I just feel like there was just a lot of anticipation for his demise towards the end. Because, buddy, you really got us here. And so unfortunately, we've arrived to a little midsummer burning moment. Good times.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

It was a good time, and I want to say, just to really point out here, I know I'm talking a long shit about those woods, but those woods look great. I loved filming on location and really just enjoying the scenery and the greenery. It actually made the burning scene even my favorite scene. But I think it's because being thrust out in the middle of nowhere, you feel how isolated these two people are. Although it didn't feel like they had driven that long. They shouldn't have got that deep in the woods and lost.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Yeah, also that. But I'm it's funny that you say that. I'm kind of feeling the same way about like the forest in general, and it kind of blades into my favorite scene as well. It's the moment where she arrives to where the map is, and she is at this point post-trash bin, covered in mud because she had to submerge herself in trash. Dirty, dirty girl. But what's crazy from the production side of things, that shot of just her eyes showing from the trash, right? I thought that was an awesome shot. Her beautiful, like greenish blue eyes. I'm thinking, dude, how does she manage to look so pretty, even with shit all over her face?

SPEAKER_02 30:57

It's absolutely wild. That's how you know this man didn't deserve her.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Truly, truly. So captured her beauty perfectly. Now, as far as my favorite scene goes, again, still that same moment, right? But it's post trash can. When she's looking at the mirror and she gets fucking pissed, I'm thinking, finally, we're turning on Final Girl. We're turning on that switch to like fully, I don't even know, like if this was Pokemon, right? That final level. I don't know what you would call it, but it's like, we're really here, we've arrived, and of course, poor little Cooper gets the brunt of it, right? But it's really that moment in particular because I struggle with a bit of how it went post. I wanted anger and I wanted rage throughout the rest of the film.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

I don't know if we completely got that. I do think what we can at least say here is she obviously wasn't thrilled about what she did to Cooper. She did what she needed to do in a moment of survival, although it's really sad for Cooper because he was so conflicted and didn't love this and didn't love what was happening. But I think what we see from her, and this is where I can get back into like this role being really well performed by her. She's a teacher. She worked with kids every single day. Where Steve hates kids. Well, maybe doesn't hate them, but is certainly not on the same wavelength as her. Think back to that kid who got smacked around in the beginning of the film, and you see her reaction versus Steve's. And Steve was originally going to say, Well, that kid needs a good smack. What I see when she kills Cooper and then still doesn't turn on the final girl energy after is someone who did what she needed to do to survive, but is deeply affected by it. My struggle is that she did all that just to get literally nowhere and to end up dying anyway.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

What are the chances? Is really the theme of this movie. You're gonna tell me that again, every turn, they're right behind you. Every little move throughout the forest, they're right there behind you, and they've located you. Fine. Whatever. You finally get help. Somehow it is the exact relative of the person that you killed. Okay. You crash into the house that you were just at previously. What do you even mean?

SPEAKER_02 33:27

You know what I mean? And then You mean every breath you take and every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you. Every single day, and every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay, I'll be watching you. That's this whole fucking town to her.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

The entire town. That is the theme song. Run that track throughout this movie. It's too much.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

Every move you make, every vow you break, every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I'll be watching you.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

I just can't even wrap my head around the fact that a whole party was going on, and at no point was there like a lot of urgency to try and say these kids did this to me, like to try to beat them to the punch a little bit. I mean, I I guess that could be argued that she didn't know until post, until it was way too late that he had a connection and what house she was in. Fine. But wouldn't you be screaming your ass off to be like these kids, these kids? I I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

I don't think it would have done any good.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Well, I guess it wouldn't have made much of a difference. You're right, because they're trying to push this whole message of we protect our own. Again, broken Britain, I get that part, right? But it felt a little like unrealistic, I guess. No one wants to call the police.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Yeah. It is again a moment where you have even one of the parents thinking, well, there's dead kids everywhere, the cops are gonna come asking questions. My problem is that she arms herself with a razor and still doesn't commit to using it. And I mean, granted, she would have been easily overpowered, but that's just my whole issue with this entire ending of this movie. It it wasn't the ending that she deserved, and sometimes bad things just happen to good people. Sometimes a story doesn't have to have a happy ending or need to have or deserve to have a happy ending, and I get that, but fuck, it just didn't feel well executed.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

No, no, it didn't. And at the end of the day, the audacity to end this movie with a little sunglasses moment, like again, this is Top Gun with those aviators. I that's a slap in the face.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

It sure is, it sure is. None of these parents are wondering where the hell this kid got those sunglasses.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Well, apparently they don't give a damn because I guess I feel like they believe to an extent what's what actually happened. They are just ignorance is bliss type deal and decide to believe his narrative versus their intuition. So that's my only issue, right? Where I feel like, again, would this actually happen? Would this really occur? Tough to say. I do feel like there's a lot of potential from each of these characters to really have come up to the plate and been a little bit more realistic, even down to the gang themselves of these kids. We've talked a bit about it. Classic example of power dynamics, sure. But it just felt like I would have loved a little bit more resistance. Funny enough, I go back to that Jack O'Connell universe, right? Where we see that at least in Bone Temple, we see that in even sinners to a slight degree, very slight, a little hard to pull off, of course, because it's a whole trance, right? And and whatnot. But I think that why wouldn't it exist in an instance where there is nothing supernatural going on? This is just humans being humans.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

It's literal teenagers. Mech 'em up. Not that I like fully endorse that, right? But you cannot fucking tell me that these people had a whole vehicle against a few kids. I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

They could have ran them over. And you know what? That's why for me, best part potential. Worst part, it's not really that gritty. It's not, folks. I can give you a list of five movies right now that are far worse and more intense and bleak than this by a landslide. Actually, I'll give you one that James Watkins couldn't remake. Speak No Evil, the original. Pop off. Enjoy. God bless.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Bleak, bleak, bleak. I'm gonna tell you the best part of this movie. The best part of this movie was there being a pair of dogs named Bonnie and Clyde. Because I did like that. In a whole cast that actually performed their roles really well. I had issues with how the movie was written and how it really came together, but the performances in this movie feel strong for who they are. Those dogs still have great performances. But I will say this. I have attempted to watch this multiple times. I'm never watching this movie again.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Meanwhile. Here is where I'll be nice. I think that it's not like entirely horrendous. I guess I could put it on if I needed to finish off some kind of weird, insane, quote unquote bleak movie marathon, right? But I can't imagine that I would put this on rotation either. Like it's not that serious.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

I think there's better bleak movies. I think there's better British horror movies. I think there's better couple goes to a remote place just to be terrorized by strangers movies. I think there's better romance in the woods movies. I think there's a lot of better movies out there. So I just don't see where this one fits for me. But hey, for now that you have it, folks. Eden Lake from 2008, as chosen by our patrons, as an universal hack. We've certainly had a robust discussion here, but the conversation about this movie doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

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