Eden Log (2007)

This isn’t an easy movie to explain, so please bear with me on my synopsis here.  The movie opens up with a man in an underground facility of some sort.  The entire place is in a shambles and there are bodies everywhere he goes.  Things are further complicated because he has no memory of who he is.  As he searches around he discovers that there are some rather nasty looking creatures running about and that some armed men are also running around killing everything they can find.  After avoiding the creatures and the armed men our hero meets up with a woman and starts to piece together that there has been some accident in the facility, which is a power generating plant that uses the sap from an enormous tree to power the nearby city.  But the tree sap has mutated the factory workers into the creatures that he has been avoiding.  Throw in a few other disturbing revelations that I won’t spoil here and you have an interesting if at times confusing movie. 

Let me start the review off here by stating right up front that Eden Log requires the viewer to pay attention and think about what they are watching.  To me this movie has a very cool old school sci-fi feel to it, with a story that is very complicated and vague with what it presents to the audience.  One of the interesting things that I found when researching for this review is the amount of interpretations of what the movie means, especially the ending.  I will readily admit at times when watching the movie I had no idea what was going on and was lost.  But unlike lesser movies, even when I was sitting there scratching my head I still was fascinated by what I was watching.  That is a very difficult tightrope to walk, but Eden Log does it well.  Now when you get to the end of the movie some of it does get explained, but again you have to be paying attention because they aren’t going to beat you over the head with it.  But as I’ve already mentioned there is still a lot of the movie that can be left open to interpretation, which I think was the point. 

One of the best parts of the movie is it’s look.  The creatures aren’t really anything terribly exciting.  I mean they look fine, but don’t get a lot of screen time and honestly don’t need to.  What I did love was the way the movie was shot and the look of the sets.  There is an interesting combination of organic and mechanical that is different from anything that I’ve ever seen on the screen before.  This blending of the man made and natural worlds is not only very cool to see on screen, but actually given the ending and big reveal at the finale plays nicely with the storyline as well.  Again I’m keeping it vague so as to not ruin the movie for anyone. 

Now I really liked this movie, but it might not be for everyone.  I mean I just so happened to be in the mood for a movie that was going to make me think and really pay attention when I popped this one into the DVD player.  If I hadn’t been in the right mood I’m not sure how the movie would have played to me.  So be warned that this is some serious science fiction.  But if this is the sort of thing that you dig then I’m positive that you are going to enjoy it as much as I did.  With that caveat I recommend Eden Log.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2009 John Shatzer