A strange, extremely low-budget, little film and director Ben Wheatley's first picture. After watching the slightly overrated KILL LIST and the bomb that is A FIELD IN ENGLAND, I think that his debut is also his most honest work: DOWN TERRACE is a straightforward, if complex, black comedy that explores murder carried out between friends and family.

The film is essentially set in a single house and follows a father/son team who have just been released from prison. They sit around, swear a lot, and gradually begin to realise that somebody grassed them up. Unfortunately, these characters are by far the least interesting, and real-life actor/son pairing of Robert and Robin Hill is the film's biggest detraction as we're stuck with them for so long. Robert's character, in particular, is fairly pointless in the run of things, while Robin Hill just doesn't cut it as a lead.

The supporting characters are a lot better, not least Michael Smiley's excellent extended cameo as the amusingly-named family man Pringle; Smiley brings an air of real menace with him, and is by far the best thing in the picture. Imagine the picture with Smiley in the lead role! Sadly, it wasn't to be. Meanwhile, Tony Way's also a lot of fun as the dim-witted Garvey, while David Schaal's tackles his stock gangster character with relish.

After the slow start, it soon transpires that DOWN TERRACE is simply a film about a series of quirky deaths (I understand that Wheatley's recent movie SIGHTSEERS is much the same, so this must be a preoccupation of his). The deaths are funny, outrageous and shocking at the same time, building to a nicely grand-feeling climax despite the low budget nature of the production. This isn't a great movie and it's not really one I'd be looking at watching again, but I can safely say that Wheatley's done much, much worse!

I've got the feeling I may have been lied to . The plot summary of the likes of IMDb say DOWN TERRACE revolves around a plot of a couple of gangsters being released from jail and trying to find out who grassed them up . This is misleading marketing because you might be expecting a Tarintino type story of revenge set in Britain . As the somewhat mixed comments on this page point out that's not really how the story unravels . The vast majority of the running time is taken up with the characters sitting around talking and swearing in a sort of British realist film that no one outside of the indie circuit will really want to watch Director

Ben Wheatley deserves some credit . He got off his backside and made a film on a shoestring budget with his own money instead of writing begging letters to the Arts Council . That said the first half of the film is a total drag with totally unlikable characters directed in a totally unengaging manner which is a serious flaw if a film is character driven . Perhaps I'm being uncharitable but many of the cast are poor and perhaps Wheatley should invested in better actors but it's to Mr Wheatley what he wants to spend his money on and I'm glad I didn't spend my own money watching it in a cinema

After serving jail time for a mysterious crime, Bill and Karl get out of jail and become preoccupied with figuring out who turned them in to the police.

On top of that, the family business is on the rocks, and the crew of criminals who operate out of the house aren't feeling terribly trusting of one another.

It might look like an ordinary house, but the walls are closing in...

All directors had to start somewhere, and although there are flashes of genius that were to come, it all feels very amateur and a little hard to swallow. I was expecting some funny banter between the cast, and whilst it has it very now and again, its not enough to keep you from losing interest.

The cast are good, and there are some funny moments, especially when Karl is looking for some letters, but the way its filmed just feels too claustrophobic, and if this was Wheatleys I tension, he's overdone it a little.

Compared to the likes of Kill List, Sightseers, and A Field In England, its not good, but it has the Wheatley magic in there for you to enjoy the flashes of genius, but there are just too many flaws.