Review of Shallow Grave (1994) by Jake R — 03 Sep 2015

Danny Boyle's 1994 debut film and the same team that later made Trainspotting. Shallow Grave is a pretty simple, yet very well made film about three friends living in a flat in Scotland that discover the corpse of their new roommate (with a questionable background) and a suitcase full of money tucked away under the bed.

Instead of calling the police and thus lose the money; they hatched a plan to dispose of the stiff in the woods and hide the money in the loft. All seems well and it doesn't seem to phase them that this suitcase full of money could have an even more questionable background than the dead man who owned it.

And pretty soon the tension begins to rise as the police start asking questions and two remorseless killers are hot on their trail. Featuring Ewan McGregor in his first leading role, this film is thick with unsettling atmosphere that gets under your skin without being too grotesque.

The soundtrack gives that "my mind is twisting into insanity" vibe that very well expresses the feelings of the main character and storyteller played by Christopher Eccleston. Everyone in the film gives a great performance that's very gripping with well written dialogue that adds alot of depth to the characters.

It begins like a comedy then slowly drifts into something far more serious until it's no laughing matter anymore. This works really well because it shows the diversity these actors have as their characters go from having everything going right to everything going wrong.