Length: 09:40
Logline: Two gangsters find themselves being held hostage by an unknown assailant with an unknown motive.
While this might not be the tense thriller it describes itself as, it's still a great example of how a good story can more than make up for working with a low budget.
There's plenty of twists and turns in the plot line which turns what potentially could have been your bog standard gangster film into a compelling drama. Matt Whitehead plays the quick thinking minion to crime boss James Sutherland with
Duncan Woodhouse taking on the role of cool and calculating hitman. All performances are equally matched, they're good but none are totally convincing as hardened killers or ruthless criminals. Sutherland is the strongest of the three but his Scottish accent has unfortunately been lessened, something which would have allowed him to give a more realistic and edgier performance. Whitehead is too much of a nice guy, which although suits the role, means he is in no way as terrified as he should be. Fresh faced Woodhouse similarly feels out of place as an assassin.
Excellent picture quality with an added lomo effect helps make the sparse setting more visually interesting. Edited together well to highlight tension, there's also good use of close-ups which helps emphasise emotion. Wardrobe has done a good job on letting the audience immediately know what type of characters we're watching and the location choice is excellent although the echo it causes on the dialogue is distracting. Saying that the evocative soundtrack covers it well when used but the heartbeat sound effect is pretty clichéd.
As mentioned, the well scripted storyline is the highlight here. It's nice when the writing is as good as the directing.
While this might not be the tense thriller it describes itself as, it's still a great example of how a good story can more than make up for working with a low budget.
There's plenty of twists and turns in the plot line which turns what potentially could have been your bog standard gangster film into a compelling drama. Matt Whitehead plays the quick thinking minion to crime boss James Sutherland with
Duncan Woodhouse taking on the role of cool and calculating hitman. All performances are equally matched, they're good but none are totally convincing as hardened killers or ruthless criminals. Sutherland is the strongest of the three but his Scottish accent has unfortunately been lessened, something which would have allowed him to give a more realistic and edgier performance. Whitehead is too much of a nice guy, which although suits the role, means he is in no way as terrified as he should be. Fresh faced Woodhouse similarly feels out of place as an assassin.
Excellent picture quality with an added lomo effect helps make the sparse setting more visually interesting. Edited together well to highlight tension, there's also good use of close-ups which helps emphasise emotion. Wardrobe has done a good job on letting the audience immediately know what type of characters we're watching and the location choice is excellent although the echo it causes on the dialogue is distracting. Saying that the evocative soundtrack covers it well when used but the heartbeat sound effect is pretty clichéd.
As mentioned, the well scripted storyline is the highlight here. It's nice when the writing is as good as the directing.
Best Bit: Nicely crafted plot.
Worst Bit: Not as gritty as it could be.
Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.
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