Review of Shallow Grave (1994) by James S — 06 Dec 2009

Almost a decade and a half before he was slumdogging it, Danny Boyle's directorial debut and it's equally brilliant follow up, Trainspotting, marked the director out as one of the most talented people working in modern cinema. Rarely, if ever, has a director produced such a perfect first offering.

A very young Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston make up with Kerry Fox the trio of flatmate hunters who unwittingly rent a room to the mysterious pre-Fat Les Keith Allen who does a mortal bunk on them, leaving in his wake a big suitcase of cash and a whole lot of trouble.

The three leads are all absolutely superb. None of them were massively established actors at the time Shallow Grave was made but they all were soon after. None of them are particularly likeable characters but they are the kind that you love to hate. Completely immoral and eventually, unhinged, each one of them has a blast with their role and with a script which crackles with great character and dialogue, why wouldn't they?. We don't get much back story to the trio, or why they are even friends......it seems they are thrown together through a mutual loathing of people they see as beneath them, which is everyone.

Boyle uses the stark vastness of their massive Edinburgh flat to make it seem as unwelcoming as the people who live there to great effect but the real creepiness of Shallow Grave comes in the form of it's haunting score and the sense of dread that builds through out the film which Boyle handles masterfully. Shallow Grave is unlike many films in that it scares you without you really realising what it's doing. You feel a party to what is going on in the film, an accomplice and as their nerves begin to fray, so does the viewers.

The finale is a little OTT but the final shot will never fail to bring a smile to the face of anyone watching. A great cast, a great script, a great director make this one of the rare times in which the stars align in movies to make something truly amazing.