Down Terrace

(United Kingdom, England, 2009, 89 mins, HDCAM 23.98)

Producer: Andy Starke
Screenwriters: Ben Wheatley, Robin Hill
Cinematographer: Laurie Rose
Editor: Robin Hill
Cast: Robert Hill, Robin Hill, Julia Deakin, Kerry Peacock, Tony Way, David Schaal, Michael Smiley, Gareth Tunley

Around the midpoint of Ben Wheatley’s seriocomic debut, Bill and Karl, a father and son recently released from jail, decide to have the person they suspect of snitching rubbed out. Only things don’t go quite as planned. Their hit man shows up with his three-year-old in tow, their intended victim locks himself inside a bedroom like a sullen teenager, and Maggie, the lady of the house, needs everyone to keep the noise down because she wants to go to bed. It’s just another quiet night at home for the residents of Down Terrace.

Moving effortlessly between kitchen sink naturalism and crime movie machinations, this low budget, shot-in-eight-days wonder sees no difference between domestic and criminal concerns. At first, this portrait of a workaday crime family is darkly funny and pointedly familiar, illuminating all the worst aspects of any family—button pushing, petty infighting, passive-aggressive comments. As the paranoia mounts within the cramped confines of the house and the knives come out between father and son, their family squabbles develop a body count and the humor turns from dark to shockingly black.

Doug Jones

Expected to attend: Ben Wheatley, Robin Hill.

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