Latest ‘Best of British’ DVDs reviewed
Paignton film critic Tom Leins checks out the ‘Best of British’ in this week’s DVD column.
British horror movies have crept back onto the radar in recent years, and the latest effort to grace our screens is Outcast (Momentum), a creepy contemporary shocker steeped in Celtic mysticism. As the movie gets underway Irish travellers Mary (Kate Dickie) and Fergal (Niall Bruton) arrive on a run-down Edinburgh housing estate, seemingly in hiding from someone or something. As Mary tries to keep their pursuer at bay using occult blood rituals, Fergal is drawn into bleak estate life by Petronella (Hanna Stanbridge), an alluring Scottish-Romany girl. It soon becomes apparent that the family are on the run from Cathal (James Nesbitt), a heavily-tattooed maniac intent on hunting them down -and using his own dark magic to follow their trail.
As soon as the demonic Cathal arrives in town, the estate is rocked by a series of grisly murders, and you are left wondering whether he is responsible for the crime spree, or trying to prevent it. With its mystical narrative subtext pushed to the fore, Outcast will be too hokey for some tastes, but the ravaged housing estate aesthetic helps to keep things grounded. Indeed, the bleak setting offers a suitably atmospheric backdrop as inner city life collides with kooky gypsy folklore. TV director Colm McCarthy (Spooks, The Tudors) oversees the action with a steady hand, and although Outcast is his first film, hopefully it won’t be his last. Entertaining stuff.
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Bonded By Blood (Revolver) takes us back to Essex in the mid-90s, where a posse of violent criminals dominate the drug trade, and rule the local club scene with an iron fist -or rather knives and shotguns. With too many drugs and too much money at stake, it isn’t long before tensions surface, and a vicious turf war erupts -leaving most of the key players dead. If the plot of Bonded By Blood sounds familiar, then that’s because the real-life controversy that inspired it has already made it onto cinema screens -not once, but twice. First up, in 2000 was the fictionalised Essex Boys starring Sean Bean, and that was followed in 2007 by the similarly brutal Rise of the Footsoldier. True crime notoriety has been a hot ticket for many years, but you have to question the wisdom of making three films about one (admittedly notorious) gangland slaying.
What makes Bonded By Blood even more bizarre is the fact that several of its principal cast members also appeared in Rise of the Footsoldier, with Terry Stone actually reprising the role of Tony Tucker. Talk about getting typecast! Fans of British gangster movies will inevitably lap up what’s on offer, and while it’s competently directed and disturbingly violent in places, the reheated narrative lets it down somewhat, and you suspect that even the most undemanding viewers will think twice about shelling out for the same film over and over again. On a positive note, at least Danny Dyer isn’t in it…
Set in a run-down comprehensive school plagued by violent pupils, F (Optimum) begins like a fusion of Grange Hill and Harry Brown. World-weary teacher Robert Anderson (David Schofield) is forced into boozy convalescence after being attacked by an unruly pupil in front of his class. Reluctantly thrust back into the classroom, Robert finds himself at odds with daughter, resulting in a furious bust-up that lands her in detention. As dusk falls, and the school is slowly deserted by pupils and teachers, it becomes apparent that sinister forces are at work, and a group of violent hoodies attack the school and its remaining inhabitants -forcing the worn-down Robert to snap out of his apathy and try to save his embittered daughter.
Although the first half of F is taut and menacing, as the film progresses it becomes increasingly reliant on gory shock tactics, and the murders take on a jarringly gruesome quality. By pandering to gore-hounds instead of maintaining its gritty urban poise, F sells itself short and ends up a bloodstained waste of potential. That said, it’s a well-crafted thriller for the most part, and its trump card is arguably its effective use of the labyrinthine school layout. At just 72 minutes long, F is careful not to outstay its welcome, but as director Johannes Roberts’ (film-)school report might well have said: ‘Johannes has potential -must try harder!’ Nevertheless, an eye-opening excursion into the bleak world of ‘hoodie horror’.
Despite an impressive array of Northern Soul moves and a genuinely great soundtrack, Soulboy is frustratingly cheesy for long spells, and its seriously weak script becomes aggravating the longer the film goes on. Martin Compston and Craig Parkinson are a charismatic pair of actors, but even they can’t elevate the flimsy material above retro nonsense. Factor in dubious cameos from Fun Lovin’ Criminals singer Huey Morgan and Bruce Jones (Les Battersby from Coronation Street) and you are left with a regrettably scattershot attempt at Brit-grit. It’s never less than watchable, but to be brutally honest Soulboy is little more than a lightweight Quadrophenia facsimile -without the requisite angst to keep you interested. Approach with caution.
- Interview: Billy O’Brien and William Todd-Jones - March 2, 2017
- The Childhood of a Leader: the birth of a terrifying ego - February 10, 2017
- Hold your breath: Don’t Breathe, and more reviews - January 26, 2017
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