“Eden Lake” (2008)
There’s a uniquely British horror subgenre known as “hoodie horror.” In this subgenre, exemplified by things like the Michael Caine revenge thriller “Harry Browne” and the dull-as-dishwater Irish horror flick “Citadel,” very nice adults are menaced by very mean children, usually wearing hooded sweatshirts. (This style of dress makes British people incredibly nervous.) “Eden Lake” is one of these movies, which is even drearier than most of its contemporaries. In the film Kelly Reilly plays a schoolteacher who travels to the remote English countryside for a vacation (or, if you’re British, “a holiday”) with her boyfriend (Fassbender). Initially, they’re simply annoyed by a small gang of punk kids who are blasting their hip-hop music and generally acting like dicks. But then their tomfoolery becomes more menacing and, after an altercation ends with the kids’ dog getting killed, things take a turn for the worse. Fassbender’s role is largely thankless and he looks so young, with an undeveloped physique and bad skin, that it’s sometimes hard to differentiate between him and the killer kids. The actor does get one big, truly wonderful moment, though when, after he’s been stabbed multiple times by the kids and generally abused, he explains to Reilly what kind of wedding they would have had, had he been able to propose on the vacation like he had originally intended. In between gasps, his multiple wounds oozing wildly, he tells Reilly that he would have taken her to Africa for the wedding. “I even talked to your old man,” he wheezes. What’s even worse is that he doesn’t even get to die immediately after. Instead, Reilly gets to watch as he’s lit on fire right beside her. The last half hour of “Eden Lake” is entirely Fassbender-free and even uglier and more grueling (she’s a school teacher! And now she’s killing little kids! Ah the irony!). “Eden Lake” is a place that you should never, ever want to visit. [C-]
“Blood Creek” (2009)
There are a lot of big time stars that have the gore-covered skeletons of early horror films hanging in their closets. Jennifer Aniston has “Leprechaun,” Leonardo DiCaprio has “Critters 3,” George Clooney has “Return of the Killer Tomatoes,” and Michael Fassbender has “Blood Creek.” A barely released (years after it was made), nearly unwatchable horror movie directed by the perpetually uneven Joel Schumacher, “Blood Creek” co-stars Dominic Purcell and future Superman Henry Cavill as a pair of brothers who battle a supernatural Nazi played by Fassbender (just in case you thought the actor’s first brush with Nazis of questionable historical accuracy was “Inglourious Basterds“). Fassbender is only seen in all of his roguishly handsome leading man glory during the movie’s creaky prologue, where his Nazi “scholar” is investigating an ancient rune stone that has been discovered in West Virginia. Of course, Fassbender wants to use the stone to dispense evil across the globe, but he ends up being captured and turned into a vengeful ghoul. It’s Fassbender in makeup/CG that then occupies the rest of the movie, covered with scars and gore and Nazi hieroglyphics, before he/it drills into his own head to reveal a third eye. Honestly, Fassbender doesn’t have a whole lot to do—he stalks around like a classic Universal monster, but even in WTF stakes is overshadowed by the reanimated bloodthirsty horse who dispenses with Shea Whigham at one point. But he’s hardly called upon to emote aside from being beyond-the-grave angry, so he can only shoulder so much of the blame. It’s the leaden script and Schumacher’s barely coherent direction that really causes “Blood Creek” to fail. This is one of those back-of-the-filmography curios that only diehard fans (probably those bordering on masochists) should bother exploring. [D]
“Fish Tank” (2009)
Written and directed by the great Andrea Arnold (“Red Road,” “Wuthering Heights“), make no mistake, this is newcomer Katie Jarvis’ film (she was discovered on the street, it was her debut and the only film she’s made thus far). Still, Michael Fassbender, who was on the rise at the time, (“Fish Tank” came out the same year as “Inglourious Basterds”), plays a key element in the drama. Jarvis plays Mia, a reckless, volatile and sometimes aggressive 15-year-old girl from a lower class family. Passionate about hip-hop dancing at home when everyone is away, this is Mia’s one true escape from a harsh and underprivileged life in the high rises of an East London ghetto. But things change when her single mom (Kierston Wareing) brings home a charming and handsome new boyfriend Connor (Fassbender). Encouraging and helpful, Connor changes the tempestuous family dynamic for the better briefly, but the intriguing spark between boyfriend and daughter quickly spreads out of control like an unexpectedly violent house fire. To say more is to spoil the film, but suffice to say there are some fascinating and unexpected twists in this classic gritty British realist drama. The Jury Prize-winner at Cannes, Jarvis is outstanding and outshines everyone because it’s her character’s film and she owns it, but Fassbender generously plays his supporting role, keeping it in the pocket and only lashing out when it’s most needed. It must be said, the tension between is mostly coiled up nicely by the actor and its unspoken seductive powers evinces Fassbender at his unshowy best. This is an actor who can express a lot with very little and clearly Hollywood was already, by this stage, more than sold. [B+]
