Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave is a high tension, psychological thriller that unfortunately, tends to be overshadowed by his much more acclaimed Trainspotting. This is unfortunate, because in my opinion Shallow Grave is almost as fantastic as that film, and deserves the attention of more people.
The film follows three housemates; Alex, David and Juliet. As the film begins, they’re on the hunt for a forth person to join them in their home and after a fast paced and humorous montage as they interview a selection of prospective candidates, they finally settle upon the mysterious Hugo (Keith Allen) who shortly after moving in, is found dead in his room – a case containing a substantial amount of money laying next to his naked corpse. After musing on what to do, the group eventually decide to keep the cash, although it means dismembering and disposing the body of Hugo beforehand. What happens next is a high tension descent into a horrific struggle as the three friends face the repercussions of hanging onto the money and one of them begins to lose his sanity.
This is a very strong thriller and a lot of that lies with the core cast of characters. Christopher Eccleston plays the unfortunate David perfectly, turning him from wallflower to maniac perfectly. Kerry Fox brings an interesting quality to lead female Juliet, as she desperately tries to keep her own neck from the chopping block and finally Ewan MacGregor plays Alex, the obnoxious and outspoken third member in the group perfectly. Elsewhere, Ken Stott plays the suspicious and collected detective whose quickly sniffing a rat at the group’s home and Keith Allen turns in a charming cameo as ill fated Hugo.
The direction is particularly good, maintaining all of Boyle’s hallmarks. The opening sequence is particularly impressive, with several montages peppered throughout which help cover passages of time. There’s a quirkiness about the film, a bleak comic value about things with Boyle pulls out and makes even more noticeable in his direction which takes the sharp edge of a particularly gruesome story. Likewise, the soundtrack works to lift the film into something special, with a wide variety of performers and genres cropping up throughout.
You want to be disappointed with this black comic thriller. It’s got shades of Hitchcock that’ll please the more classical movie goer, but there’s a distinctly modern flavour running through it that Boyle brings. All of the cast are superb and what we’re left with is a neat, different, funny but at times unsettling thriller that you’ll enjoy time and again.

Rating: 8