classicsoncall For a film billed as a horror movie, I didn't find it to have much suspense at all. In fact, I thought it was pretty boring. But my main problem with the story had to do with the roommate who died leaving behind a suitcase full of money. OK, so what compelling reason was there for the other three tenants to take the corpse in the woods and hack it to pieces before burying it? The death of Hugo (Keith Allen) was not the result of any crime or illegal activity, so why not just call the police to report the incident? They weren't on the hook for the money, so why put themselves in all kind of legal jeopardy in a futile attempt to hide the body? It just didn't make sense to me. Hide the money until the coroner comes by and the corpse is taken off to the morgue. Sounds pretty simple to me. As long as that incomprehensible decision was made, I did like the way the two thugs who broke into the apartment were dealt with by David (Christopher Eccleston). There again though, where was the exposition on how the bad guys located the apartment and connected the three roommates with the missing money? All you have to do is think this through to realize that the story doesn't hold up very well in the credibility department. Taking things full circle with the suspicious roomies turning on each other worked well enough I guess, and the twist ending with the money under the floorboards where Alex (Ewan McGregor) was stabbed was pretty clever. But with all the other questionable stuff going on, this one just doesn't hold up either as a horror flick or a thriller.

Redxction A Film such as Shallow Grave is a film that intrigues you in one scene then in the next you find yourself asking this question, Why am I watching this film? It really is mind blowing how unbalanced the film really is.The thing that get's to me is how Christopher Eccleston's character can change so much. one minute he's taking part in hiding a body next minute he's in a loft drilling holes in the celling because he doesn't trust his 'friends'. What the film could of improved on is a tad bit more of an explanation for and to help the development of Christopher Eccleston's character.See it for what it's worth. It's a good crime/Thriller that won't leave you on the edge of your seat but it provides a few good laughs.

ivan-campari This is an enjoyable little movie with an interesting premise, some good plot twists, fine acting and a lot of humor and style. Boyle's directorial debut is very impressive: the camera-work is at times very stylish. The movie is able to build a lot of tension and to keep the viewer glued to the screen. Some specific sequences and ideas are just great. Having said all of these good things, I can't help but to think that the final part of the movie didn't fully convince me and in its excesses it becomes less and less plausible. The evolution's of Eccleston's character is particularly hard to believe. But this doesn't change the fact that this is a stylish movie that grabbed my attention from start to end, made me laugh several times and even surprised me a couple of other times. Overall, I would recommend it to almost anyone who likes thrillers and crime movies.

runamokprods At his best, Danny Boyle is one of our finest living filmmakers. And if this 1st feature isn't quite up to the level of the best of his work, it still shows one heck of a lot of talent.That said, while enjoyable and full of energy and solid performances, this didn't hold up as well on 2nd viewing as I'd hoped. This caper drama about 3 self obsessed, comically awful 20 somethings who fall into a bag of money and slowly turn on each other has a lot of dark cynical fun in it, but there are just too many logic holes and too many character leaps to be fully satisfying. A lot of the twists are clever (although some are predictable) but rather than characters evolving, they seem to lurch suddenly on their way down the rat hole to beyond forgivable. You accept the sudden transformations because they're there, but it did leave me wondering 'when did THAT suddenly happen to the character'. In turn, that underlines the film's somewhat cartoony nature, which makes sure it's never too disturbing to enjoy no matter how awfully everyone behaves, but that also robs it of the chance of being a deeper film than just a fun, smart genre exercise.With "Trainspotting" Boyle went on to find that perfect balance of surface fun, and deeper meanings, but this is a good first step.