James Watkins' debut feature, Eden Lake, is notable for a number of things. It features a Michael Fassbender performance before he became genuinely famous, and it often turns up on "most disturbing films" lists.
The tale of a couple of vacationers (Fassbender and Kelly Reilly) menaced by a local group of teenaged miscreants feels all too possible, like a twisted modern riff on Bergman's The Virgin Spring or Craven's Last House on the Left. But this isn't just another exploitation flick -- Eden Lake is surprisingly smart and well acted -- but is it gory? We'll find out when we score it on the Gore Card.