A strange, extremely low-budget, little film and director Ben Wheatley's first picture. After watching the slightly overrated KILL LIST and the bomb that is A FIELD IN ENGLAND, I think that his debut is also his most honest work: DOWN TERRACE is a straightforward, if complex, black comedy that explores murder carried out between friends and family.
The film is essentially set in a single house and follows a father/son team who have just been released from prison. They sit around, swear a lot, and gradually begin to realise that somebody grassed them up. Unfortunately, these characters are by far the least interesting, and real-life actor/son pairing of Robert and Robin Hill is the film's biggest detraction as we're stuck with them for so long. Robert's character, in particular, is fairly pointless in the run of things, while Robin Hill just doesn't cut it as a lead.
The supporting characters are a lot better, not least Michael Smiley's excellent extended cameo as the amusingly-named family man Pringle; Smiley brings an air of real menace with him, and is by far the best thing in the picture. Imagine the picture with Smiley in the lead role! Sadly, it wasn't to be. Meanwhile, Tony Way's also a lot of fun as the dim-witted Garvey, while David Schaal's tackles his stock gangster character with relish.
After the slow start, it soon transpires that DOWN TERRACE is simply a film about a series of quirky deaths (I understand that Wheatley's recent movie SIGHTSEERS is much the same, so this must be a preoccupation of his). The deaths are funny, outrageous and shocking at the same time, building to a nicely grand-feeling climax despite the low budget nature of the production. This isn't a great movie and it's not really one I'd be looking at watching again, but I can safely say that Wheatley's done much, much worse!
The film is essentially set in a single house and follows a father/son team who have just been released from prison. They sit around, swear a lot, and gradually begin to realise that somebody grassed them up. Unfortunately, these characters are by far the least interesting, and real-life actor/son pairing of Robert and Robin Hill is the film's biggest detraction as we're stuck with them for so long. Robert's character, in particular, is fairly pointless in the run of things, while Robin Hill just doesn't cut it as a lead.
The supporting characters are a lot better, not least Michael Smiley's excellent extended cameo as the amusingly-named family man Pringle; Smiley brings an air of real menace with him, and is by far the best thing in the picture. Imagine the picture with Smiley in the lead role! Sadly, it wasn't to be. Meanwhile, Tony Way's also a lot of fun as the dim-witted Garvey, while David Schaal's tackles his stock gangster character with relish.
After the slow start, it soon transpires that DOWN TERRACE is simply a film about a series of quirky deaths (I understand that Wheatley's recent movie SIGHTSEERS is much the same, so this must be a preoccupation of his). The deaths are funny, outrageous and shocking at the same time, building to a nicely grand-feeling climax despite the low budget nature of the production. This isn't a great movie and it's not really one I'd be looking at watching again, but I can safely say that Wheatley's done much, much worse!