Review of Down Terrace (2010) by David U — 28 Jul 2012

Writer/director Ben Wheatley's debut feature, Down Terrace, is British drama that fuses together the kitchen sink social realism of Shane Meadows, Ken Loach and 'The Royle Family' to make compelling yet highly uncomfortable viewing.

Wheatley, who demonstrates flair for creating small moments of humour around intense menace, really sets his marker down with this unsettling look into the world of a crime family in steep decline. Thanks to being mostly confined to the small rooms of your average two-up-two-down terraced house, the film has a sense of real claustrophobia which is accentuated all the more by the intensity of the drama.

It's one of those films where even as people sit down to a family meal, you can sense the brewing violence in the air. The tight, confined spaces only serve to heighten the feeling of being trapped in these small rooms with psychotic characters.

All the performances register strongly, the picks being Robert Hill (Bill) and Julia Deakin (Maggie), the mother and father of the house, or Godfather and Godmother. To begin with, Maggie has the demeanour of the loving, but downtrodden Mum who runs to the kitchen when the boys start arguing, but as things unfold her character develops and the performance is chillingly well measured.

Anyone familiar with Wheatleyâ(TM)s follow up film 'Kill List' will cheer when the likeable Michael Smiley turns up in a similar small role. So, Down Terrace sets a strong precedent for a debut director with its realism, horror and blacker than black comedy.

4/5.