[1] In a house at Cherry Tree Lane, distant couple Christine (Rachael Blake) and Mike (Tom Butcher) are eating dinner while their son, Sebastian, is out at football practice.

When the doorbell rings and Christine goes to answer it, the couple is attacked by Rian (Jumayn Hunter), Asad (Ashley Chin), and Teddy (Sonny Muslim), who hold them both hostage and tie them up in their front room.

[9] Anthony Quinn of the Independent wrote that "Like Haneke, the director creates a mood of violence while holding off from graphic depiction – this is no torture porn.

[10] Damon Wise, in his review for Empireonline.com, gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and claimed that "After the histrionic Harry Brown and gory Eden Lake, you could be forgiven for thinking the hoodie-horror subgenre had run its course.

But while this sparse, ingenious thriller might seem to cover familiar ground, Cherry Tree Lane delves deeper into the hoodie psyche with a degree of black comedy lacking from its forebears".

[12] While other critics criticised the film for its lack of social context "A middle-class couple (Rachael Blake and Tom Butcher) are terrorised in their home by a gang of youths and though the violence happens off-screen, it still feels exploitative.

Williams is able to create an unsettling atmosphere with simple sound effects, but he fails to provide a convincing context for the extreme antisocial behaviour (including rape).