Some of the best horror movies never make it to a theater near you.
Take “Rogue,” Greg McLean’s killer crocodile movie from 2008 which only visited a few movie houses before its DVD debut.
The British horror film “Eden Lake” followed a similar trajectory in the U.S. even though it’s superior to most mainstream horror releases.
“Lake” follows a couple (Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender) who run into a gang of nasty teenagers while on a camping trip. It’s not for the faint of heart, but anyone looking for a smart, suspenseful horror film had better buckle up.
WWTW checked in with “Eden Lake’s” writer/director James Watkins, whose film hits DVD stores Jan. 6.
WWTW: Tell me a little about your film background …
JW: My background is as a screenwriter. But, as every battle-weary screenwriter will attest, film is a director’s medium and I finally worked my way into a position where I had a spec script that I would only sell on the condition that I could direct.
WWTW: How did you come up with the idea for “Eden Lake?”
JW: I had a sense that there was a fear of youth in England- people looking askance at kids. I thought this fear would make an interesting jumping off point for a modern horror – one that wasn’t about vampires or werewolves, but something homegrown. Something that people can’t escape or dismiss as fantasy.
WWTW: The film struck me, on one level, as a battle between those who conform to societal rules and those who don’t. Was that a theme you were looking to explore?
JW: Absolutely. The first confrontation on the beach embodies this for me: do you stand up for ’society’ or put up with the problem as long as it doesn’t affect you? As Steve (Fassbender) discovers, what might be the ‘right’ thing to do and what might be the sensible thing to do don’t always match up.
I was also interested in dramatising how violence begets violence. Nasty, queasy violence – not your typical movie violence. But, above all, I wanted to make a white-knuckle, edge-of-your-seat horror-thriller.
WWTW: One of the best aspects of your film was how conflicted the children were — they all weren’t eager to kill and maim. Can you talk about this and how you directed the teen actors so effectively?
JW: It was important to me that it wasn’t six-psychos-go-a-killing. That’s not realistic – and, thus for me, not scary. I wanted to introduce a little more moral and psychological complexity: Brett, the leader of the gang, is the most brutal character, but also the most brutalised. The others are all trailing behind him, cowed and scared. Even the little boy Adam betrays Jenny because he wants to be part of the gang. That herd mentality scares me.
Directing was so much about casting. Once we had the right actors, we work-shopped the script a lot – letting the actors taking ownership of the words, change words that didn’t feel right. I wanted to keep things loose on set. Young actors are great because they are fearless – they will try anything.
WWTW: What are your horror influences, and which horror directors working today do you admire?
JW: “Alien” is for me the perfect horror movie. The swiss-watch of suspense: a perfectly tooled instrument! Guillermo del Toro is the modern master. The way he weaves emotion and sadness into his stories elevates them above all others. I love the way he has single-handedly rehabilitated the word ‘fantasy’. I guess Peter Jackson has played his part too!
WWTW: The American horror scene, at the moment, isn’t very strong. Mostly remakes and sequels, too often without originality. Tell me about the horror scene in England — do you see English horror films starting to impact the US or other film markets?
JW: Neil Marshall raised the bar with “The Descent.” But I think across the channel in France is where the really out – there and interesting work is going on. And Spain has been undergoing a horror renaissance.
WWTW: What can you tell us about “The Descent 2?” (Watkins co-wrote the horror sequel) Is Neil Marshall involved in some capacity?
JW: It kicks off where the first film ended – with the girls missing and the rescue team going after them. The director, Jon Harris, and I really wanted to max out what we loved about the first film [Jon edited "The Descent" and "Eden Lake"] – the primal fears – of the darkness, of claustrophobia, of being crushed, of being abandoned. It’s so much more than a monster movie.
Neil’s one of the producers and has been involved as a guiding voice throughout the process.
(Photo: A band of unruly teens make life hell for a lovestruck couple in “Eden Lake,” a new horror film out Jan. 6 on DVD)
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m nervous about any sequel, but I’ll give Descent 2 a shot when it comes out; I’m curious to see where it might go with the entire “rescue” operation. Meanwhile, on your recommendation, I’m off to my edit my Netflix queue to get both Rogue and Eden Lake.
Bvorka,
Really hope you like them … the horror scene is in such bad shape today … but these two stood out.
And yeah, I’m nervous about The Descent 2, but it sounds like some good people are on board behind the scenes.