Looking at the DVD cover of Down Terrace, you would be forgiven for dismissing it as yet another geezer-filled entry into the British crime genre, directed by somebody who watched Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) growing up and fancied themselves as capable of doing the same. Yet Ben Wheatley's debut feature goes out to do exactly the opposite, and instead of motor- mouthed crims with ridiculous nicknames and heists-gone-wrong, we get a kitchen-sink drama, at least for the first two-thirds, filmed almost entirely within the constraints of a run-of-the-mill house in Brighton.After a stint in prison, Karl (Robin Hill, who co-wrote the script with Wheatley) returns to the family home with his father Bill (Robert Hill, Robin's real-life father) to try and sniff out the rat who is threatening to bring down their criminal organisation. With the help of mother Mags (Julia Deakin), they invite various associates, including idiot club owner Garvey (Tony Way), muscle Eric (David Schaal) and hit-man Pringle (Michael Smiley), to their home in an attempt to suss them out. Karl is barely able to cope with the relentless criticism dished out by his father and his family's general dysfunction, and the atmosphere is made worse with the re-appearance of Valda (Kerry Peacock), an old flame now (apparently) pregnant with Karl's child.Channelling the work of various British film-makers, including Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and Shane Meadows, Down Terrace attempts to draw you in slowly, creating an atmosphere of unease before unleashing its bloody final act. It should be a clever subversion of the genre, and in some ways it is, but this is hampered by a measured approach and a self-awareness, similar to the problems Sightseers (2012) had. There isn't a fault to be had with the performances, especially Robert Hill as the everyman crime boss with a slight aura of buffoonery about him. It's also very funny on occasion, and one of Wheatley's real strengths as a film-maker is luring you in with laughs while never allowing you to be completely comfortable. Ultimately, it's a distinctive test of endurance with flashes of brilliance, doing wonders with a micro-budget.

Ben Wheatley's gritty British kitchen sink crime drama, shot in just 8 days on a micro-budget of $30,000! The story is set in Brighton, that shabby old dame by the sea. Famous for her filth, squalor, and vibrant LGBTQI2-SPAA culture, where on any given day the local hipsters can enjoy gluten free organic vegan food with a side order of a clumsy hand job from a weeping, drug addicted 12 year old rent boy sporting two black eyes and menaced by a 55 year old pimp. Good times!Crime family patriarch Bill has recently returned home from prison, where he schemes with wife Maggie to uncover the backstabbing snitch who grassed on him. His son Karl has aspirations of a new life with pregnant girlfriend Valda, but Bill and Maggie do not approve. Tensions rise when Garvey—Bill's inept sidekick—innocently suggests to Karl that Valda might have enjoyed sexual exploits beyond their relationship. Local hit-man Chris Pringle is struggling to fit his professional obligations around the responsibility of caring for his three year old son and his geriatric mother. Uncle Eric assists him with an elegant solution. Councillor Berman nurses a dark secret that he might soon take to his grave. Maggie suspects Uncle Eric. London gangster Johnny is concerned by unconfirmed reports of poorly concealed murders in the Brighton area. Karl's relationship with his father grows worse. Valda has plans of her own.This is a stunningly powerful film that shows what can be achieved by solid dialogue and well polished characterisation.I rate Down Terrace at 26.64 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a showstopping 8/10 on IMDb.

I'm writing this review of Down Terrace after watching the film and experiencing a severe case of dejavu at the same time.I hired it on the basis that I like gritty British gangster movies and I saw this one's trailer on another similar film. However, after about twenty minutes I got the distinct impression that I'd seen the film before, as I was predicting most of the scenes accurately. The reason for this was that I had seen it before. However, I had turned it off after about half an hour due to the fact that it was awful.Somehow I had erased the memory of this film and then hired it out again thinking it was a different one (and, once again, duped by the trailer).Now, I've looked on various movie-related websites and the reaction to Down Terrace is - overall - pretty positive. I don't know what it was about the film, but it just didn't do it for me.It's about a family of gangsters who, two of which have just returned from Court, and now believe that there's a 'mole' within the organisation.Perhaps one thing that majorly bugged me was that none of the - supposed - gangsters really seemed like gangsters. Maybe I'm just used to Guy Ritchie's stereotypes, but this lot came across as a load of fat, middle-aged men who you'd find propping up the bar at a Working Man's club. They weren't in the least bit threatening (as you might expect a hardened gangster to be). As for the 'black comedy' that was repeatedly mentioned in other reviews, I couldn't find any.I forced myself to sit through the whole thing this time, hoping to find out what I was apparently missing. I couldn't see it myself. Just because a film is low budget, does not make it particularly good. I'm now writing this review in the hope that when I next watch the trailer for Down Terrace by accident, I don't think to myself 'Ooh, that looks good, I think I'll watch it' and just remind myself that it's awful.I hate to be all 'overly commercial,' but I think I'll stick to Guy Ritchie's stylised representations of the London criminal underworld in future.

I really enjoyed the microbudget Down Terrace - it's the story of a Brighton (English seaside town) gangster family in the style of The Sopranos, where suburban gang soldiers can expect no mercy from anyone, even in the middle of a bowl of muesli. In the end they're all in various degrees of psychosis - the logical conclusion being that the characters have to kill or be killed. And kill they do, getting through miles of polythene sheeting in the process.The plot, such as it is, is that the family who run the crime ring (which we never really learn about) suspect that they've got an informer, and over two weeks the operation falls apart bigtime as the paranoia escalates.It's carried on in a Mike Leigh impro style, and some of the acting and dialogue might have done with a bit more direction and editing, but that must be a consequence of the small budget. The unfamiliar cast get right under the skins of their characters - I used to know exactly the sort of hippy drug dealer that would have turned into Bill, the folk-and-blues singing father who thinks he's Chinese philosopher (Art of War) Sun Tzu.Down Terrace is surely best watched on a small screen. On the big screen the claustrophobia of the small terraced house would be overpowering, and in order to tolerate this tale of family dysfunction, wholesale murder and psychosis you need to be able to detect the black, black humour running through it.There are some great touches throughout, if you watch it without trying to make too much sense of the plot; it's the sort of film that inspires you to make your own low budget thriler, and that can't be bad.