Cherry Tree Lane

Like hoodie-horror Eden Lake before it, Cherry Tree Lane attempts to scare the viewer by tapping into their innate fear of the yob generation, depicting a law-abiding, middle-class, suburban couple at the mercy of a vicious gang of 'yoofs' (before the tables are eventually turned for a brief but satisfying slice of retribution).

Writer/director Paul Andrew Williams handles the material confidently enough (certainly better than the dreadful black comedy of his previous film The Cottage) and commands solid performances from his cast, young and old, but while I cannot deny that the film packs a powerful emotional wallop, largely thanks to its unsettling sense of realism, I do feel that the extremely thin plot isn't quite strong enough to sustain an entire feature film. Even at a scant 74 minutes (according to my DVD), there's a fair amount of padding; the movie would have been more successful had Williams added a bit more 'meat' to his narrative, or if the whole thing had just been a bit shorter.

Over nearly a decade of seeing films at the EIFF you naturally come across some bad films. Cherry Tree Lane falls into the category below that, the one were referring to it as "film" is an insult to other films. In short the whole "film" is a padding out of a 5 minute scene from a drama club or the like that doesn't even manage to make a full 90 minutes (estimated 75 minutes). The dialogue could easily have been improvised by the very young cast and the only directing tricks Paul seems so posses is ultra close-ups or foreground-object whilst we watch the scene in the background.

Leaving the second screening the audience were shocked at how bad the film was and for the second half, people were laughing at moments of apparent tension due to the complete lack of any substance or idea. The most laughable thing of all is this was actually up for the Audience Award! With one exception this is quite possibly the worst British film ever made (the worst being The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael).

Cherry Tree Lane is written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams. It stars Rachael Blake, Tom Butcher, Sonny Muslim, Jumayn Hunter & Ashley Chin. Plot finds middle-class couple Christine (Blake) & Mike (Butcher) suffering the ultimate home invasion hell when one night three youths force their way into the house looking for their informant son.

It's the sort of plot that could have been gleaned from The News Of The World on a Sunday morning. Whilst not as horrific as Eden Lake, or as far fetched as Harry Brown, Williams' third film unsettles from the off and has much to say along the way. We begin with a slow zoom in shot of the front of the house, a middle-class suburbia that's comforting and a world away from the horror about to be unleashed. Then inside and Williams appropriately films an untended cooking pot coming to the boil as Christine chats on the phone in the back ground, the simmer to boil motif neatly setting us up for what is to come. Told in real time, Cherry Tree Lane's story never leaves the house, claustrophobia reins as our couple are trussed up and subjected to a terrifying ordeal. Pretty sparse in set up and location, then, but this is not just an excuse for some terror. Williams goes a bit more deeper with his themes, daring to delve into the psyche of Britain's unruly youths, neatly observing cultural class division and the ever widening gap between the generations. It's darkly humorous at times too, the bleakness of which has a cheek about it as the story runs its (collision) course.

Where Cherry Tree Lane differs from other film's of its ilk is that the violence is mostly done off camera, mercifully so during one extreme passage. The power of suggestion really comes to the fore as we hear but don't see. This lack of on camera violence will disappoint those who need it in their horror diet. So be advised gore seekers, this is unlikely to be the film for you. Williams also faces the problem of trying to avoid comparisons with the afore mentioned other film's, the likes of Funny Games and The Strangers. It can be said that the home invasion format is most likely now looking a bit tired, to that end Williams' British take is likely to only resonate with the self aware British public. But it is challenging and confrontational. The ending is a little too abrupt, and perhaps inevitably-implausibility creeps in. But for the most part this is unnerving stuff, a chilling tale executed with a realism that's not found in more glossy productions: with the final shot astutely serving to keep us agitated. 8/10

Cherry Tree Lane is a 70 minute Funny Games/Eden lake-esque 'horror' that sees a bunch of teens terrorising a not-very-happily married couple in North London. Despite the ridiculously short running time, Cherry Tree Lane is LONG. Too long. I found myself drifting in and out of consciousness listening to the pointless conversations that this film includes. Moments include the leader, shall we say, eyeing up 42-year old Christine, telling her to stand up "to see how fit she is" whilst her husband, gagged on the floor, is yelled at "don't look round at me, blud!" So basically, it's a group of chavs armed with knives, stealing credit cards and biscuits. They aren't JUST after money though, they want the couples son who's apparently not been able to keep his mouth shut about someone cousin...or something along those lines. There were some nice slow motion shots, but other than that, it's a very simple film with the only location being the house, well, the living room. There were a handful of tense moments that had me remotely wondering what was going to happen, however, it's all rather predictable. I didn't REALLY care what was going to happen at the end, although, I did hope the couple would execute some revenge if they were to escape. Overall, it's not the worst film in the world, but it's definitely not the best of it's type; Eden Lake and Funny Games are a lot better..and the teenagers seem too stupid in Cherry Tree Lane to carry out anything too horrific.

This is a typical home invasion type movie but the screenplay stuff was not so strong enough to hold the story.

The whole story happens inside a house. So the main revenge reference was just missing.

Acting was just OK.

The whole film seems like one scene just developed in a not so interesting manner.

I would say last house on the left and the strangers were good compared to this.

Just don't watch this with some expectations .

I would give 4 on 10