Review of Shallow Grave (1994) by Manny C — 11 Aug 2012

There's nothing gentle about this darkly funny Scottish thriller from debuting director Danny Boyle. Shallow Grave is a take-no-prisoners savage tale of ill manners and greed that revels in putting its three unlikable leads through the ringer, complete with dismemberment. Doctor Juliet (Kerry Fox), journalist Alex (Ewan McGregor) and accountant David (Christopher Eccleston) are on the lookout for a fourth roommate for their flat. They're all major snobs and reject a dozen decent folk with casual cruelty. Then Hugo (Keith Allen) comes along and gets the room, but soon after he overdoes and leaves behind a foul stench and a suitcase of stolen drug money. So what do they do? They agree to keep the loot and get rid of the body, which involves chopping him up in the woods.

Shallow Grave works well as one part Hitchcock suspense and one part Coens wit. It's a remarkable debut from Boyle, who directs with an assurance that can only be called superb. The script by John Hodge, who started as a doctor who wanted to write a film, hops on the message that greed kills.

That's not entirely a new message, but Hodge's script artfully works wild and pulse-pounding variations on that theme. And all the actors bring their A-games, showing how rabid their characters will sink to get what they want. Fox, so wonderful in Jane Campion's Angel At My Table, is sexily cold and calculating, and Eccleston is flat out astonishing as a mousy bloke who gradually becomes a cruel monster. Shallow Grave still holds up today as a wickedly wonderful blend of mirth and malice, and still an excellent starting point for the work of one of our great working filmmakers. It's killer.