Down Terrace (2010)

Curiously riveting low-budget crime caper from Blighty that segues seamlessly from droll domestic routines to sudden spurts of ultraviolence. Chronicling the implosion over two weeks of a minor family-run goon squad, Down Terrace plays like some new type of movie mutation where the mundane and the macabre are mixed to shockingly hilarious effect. Talk about getting under your skin! Plus the folk songs running through this bracing little flick add their own wayward wrinkle to the general sense of disequilibration. Utterly unpredictable and visceral, Down Terrace is Mister Wheatley's first feature film apparently and I gotta say I haven't been this impressed by a hitherto unknown quantity since getting an eyeful of Lenny Abrahamson's hypnotic and devastating Garage (2007).

DOWN TERRACE is a real treat: An understated British gangster flick mixing hilarious dysfunctional family drama with pitch-black crime movie brutality. Before discussing content, it must be noted that the accompanying music track is ridiculously amazing. The fact that no soundtrack recording has been released saddens more than the ultra-grim tale itself. When Bob Hill's character strums his acoustic to a hearty rendition of "Spanish Ladies," for a moment, you think he's a nice guy. For a moment. Starring a real-life father and son, DT will make you feel better about any minor grievance within the family unit. Actually, "Dysfunctional" is too kind a description for directly to HELL is where these folks are a-goin'.

Our story begins with Bill and Karl just released from a brief jail detention. A jolly welcome home party ensues, but it's easy to tell that darkness is fast approaching. Apparently, Bill and Karl run a nightclub, but only as a cover for their underworld crime syndicate division. The old reliable "Snitch In Our Midst" plot device is revealed to be the reason for the jail time. As our anti-heroes seek the traitor, you will not believe the behavior on display.

Violent yet minimally bloody, DOWN TERRACE could be the quietest Hooligan cinema ever imagined. The emotional wallop, however, will leave you flat-out knackered.

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Marvellous,low budget study of low life criminals.Acting is superb and the humour is very dark.No glamorising of crime in this one which makes is quite unique.

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I first saw this film at the 34th annual Cleveland International Film Festival in 2010. The writing is so darkly funny and the performance are absolutely top-notch, especially the real-life father and son, Robert and Robin Hill. Julia Deakin as the mother is phenomenal too.

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The British films about gangsters, have their own profile. The last giant film I remember is from 1980, "The long good Friday" that somehow represented the British answer to "The Godfather".

In this opportunity, we assist to the tragedy of a decadent and crumbling empire that is about to end, and how the wild instinct of preservation and survival simply ignores (like in most of cases happen) transforms this wealthy clan in a huge bloody swamp.

Filmed according the rules of cinema verite, still accent the anguish and the inner demons that nestle beneath their souls.

Good film but never a great one!

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