Cherry Tree Lane is an urban thriller about a couple whose home is invaded one night by a gang of youths who wish to harm their absent son. While they wait for the boy, they mete out some physical and psychological torture. Like all house-invasion movies this is a very disturbing film. It's not entirely dissimilar to notorious exploitation films such as House on the Edge of the Park (1980). Although, admittedly, the sexual violence in this thriller is committed off-screen unlike that earlier film's non-stop barrage of sexual assault. Nevertheless, Cherry Tree Lane is certainly in the same general ball-park, just toned down and with better acting performances.
All of the action is restricted to the interior of the house at the fateful address, generating considerable claustrophobia. The villains are typical London gansta youths - this is a house invasion movie for the hoody generation. It plays on middle-class fears of gangs of violent working-class youths. The young hoodlums seem to have come from a different world from their victims. They have no use for the contents that make up the unfortunate couple's home such as bottles of red wine or their DVD collection. This uneasy chemistry adds to the tension and adds a different undercurrent to proceedings. The film does stretch believability a little with the introduction of two teenage girls and a young schoolboy into the fray; they act as if this is a normal night out but it just seems inconceivable that they could be so blasé in this extreme situation. Nevertheless, the introduction of these characters does allow for the set-up in the final scene in the movie, in which things are left hanging on an unanswered question that leaves the viewer wondering if the horror of the night has in fact ended at all.
Overall this is not an easy film. It's intense and sometimes difficult to watch, and it truly offers no respite by the end. So Cherry Tree Lane is certainly not a film for everyone. But for those with a mind for something dark and troubling, it's a journey worth taking.
