A pretty good survival horror movie!
So yeah, as this blog starts to wind down I needed to see something I haven't seen yet. And my prayers were answered by this little gem from the UK. I don't think that any of this is original, but at times it did remind me of Eden Lake and maybe even some of "Lord of the Flies". It doesn't waste a lot of time, but the effects vary from pretty good gore effects to shameless CGI. Still, the story that it tells is altogether too human, and we see the beast come out of humanity. In other words, this movie is a survival horror movie to the core. And the acting is pretty good as well.
We are introduced to a group of juvenile delinquents and clearly there is a pecking order. Two boys in particular are bullied by the rest of the group, and Steve (Stephen Wight) and Lewis (Luke Neal) are the alpha males and antagonists of the group. We also have Blue (Adam Deacon) who always plays second fiddle, and Jethro (Richie Campbell) who kind of stays out of it...he's just kind of neutral. But, they get a new mysterious roommate to join their ranks when Callum (Toby Keebell) makes his appearance, and shows them firsthand how much rage he has inside him during a psychology meeting. The two boys that are bullied Dave (John Travers) and Lindsay (Ben McKay), just want to be left alone. But after a particularly humiliating day of bullying, Dave decides to take his own life.
For this act, the group is taken out to an island by Jed (Sean Pertwee of Dog Soldiers) to learn better communication skills. And they find out that they are not on the island alone as they meet up with Louise (Alex Reid) and her girls. They make an agreement to stay on different sides of the lake, and of course this does not happen. And then on a routine trip to get water Jethro, does not return and a grisly discovery is made...and then the arrows start flying. What follows is a fight for survival against the unknown assailant, a pack of dogs, and..well...the students themselves. It seems that some of these guys were put in juvie for a really good reason, as some really horrific acts occur when the group loses it's leadership. The group continues to breakdown and more and more victims are claimed until the suspense filled final 20 mins.
For the most part this is a very good looking film. It seems like they spent a ton on certain gore effects and went the cheap route on others. We are definitely shown the good and evil in man through this, as people make their choice as to which side they want to fall on. There is some truly shocking stuff here in terms of what people do to each other. Survival kind of brings out the beast in everyone. The action is well paced and at times has an action movie feel. Some of the deaths reminded me of Eden Lake as well. Out of the delinquents, it's kind of hard to choose a hero. Nevertheless, we have a few that do step up. For the most part I was completely engaged in the story, and that being with me not having much sleep the night before. The musical score by Mark Thomas adds to the scenes of intensity, of which there are quite a few.
Overall, this is a better than average UK survival horror thriller, that has the extra bonus of the fact that the antagonists are also the protagonists at certain points. Not only are they fighting the unknown "out there", they are also fighting the "previously unknown" murderous intentions within their own group. I enjoyed this film, but it does have it's flaws. Still above average.
8 out of 10
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