Comedown

Some people just need to get off their high horse. This is a new generation of good British Drama. It's the emergence of a younger generation cultivating their own language, therefore the dialect is true to type of certain communities. Traditionalists are in denial that this section of society exists, and that their language has found its way into the movies.

The movie hosts a mix of teen crime, mischievous behaviour, youth cult and culture. It's the result of all growing up in a Tower Block in the same area, where the likelihood is that they all attended the same schools and went through the UK schooling system, and gang warfare - but these were not gangs - these were just a group of friends with 'attitude'.

OK, I get why this Comedown only rated a 4.6 here at IMDb, as it is true it's a stock premise, that is, teenagers somehow exposed getting hunted down one by one in the tradition of numerous other slasher flicks. I'm giving it a 10. Comedown is a truly excellent slasher flik. The psychopath is truly creepy, and chillingly prepared for his night of slaughter, and the Director's handling of how he is introduced carefully scene by scene is a championship of editing. The murders are brilliant, each one carefully choreographed, with great shock value. Some classic horror images here. The tension is palpable. Even before the kids are in danger the delicate dynamics of their social wiles just kind of screams 'this is trouble'. It was a great way to lead in. The actors are all accomplished. The characters themselves are not easy to enjoy, but they are very authentic, helped along by a jabbing script. Then there is the grand set itself, with the lighting and texture throughout being powerful. The sense of danger is just screaming off the walls. This movie has all the heart pounding guts of a really, really outrageous dare, and I loved every minute.

I would like to start by saying the only reason this movie made it to 3 stars, is solely because it has Jessica Barden. I actually enjoyed the acting and setting in this movie, everything else pretty much missed the mark. I want to say the directing in this movie wasn't good. It seemed fairly predictable and not very suspenseful. I feel like I already knew what was going to happen before it happened. The story had potential but lacked so much detail that it was hard to understand why things were happening. I think it is worth the watch, but only if it's out of boredom, not to entertain.

... Makes another deeply unpleasant film that borders on being unwatchable

Yes the director of KIDULTHOOD is back and this time he tries his hand at horror in an inner London setting . This type of horror has been done before in ATTACK THE BLOCK , a film I personally despised because the anti-heroic protagonists deserved to get eaten by alien hordes . This film is no different and is a film I despise for the same reason as ATTACK THE BLOCK

If you're going to have a film where the protagonists are going to be fighting for their lives at least craft some type of characterization that will have the audience empathize with their predicament . Here I didn't know anything about the villain in the background stalking the teenagers . All I knew was that he was probably doing the gene pool a massive favour

Some commentators have criticised the " Estuary English / chav speak " dialogue but if we had the Royal Shakespeare Company speaking in pedantic Queens English this wouldn't have made any difference because most of the dialogue is downed out in a poor sound mix with some very dire muzak on the soundtrack just to remind the audience that this is a horror film

In summary this is one of those films that will alienate and outrage everyone from the most rabidly right wing reader of The Daily Mail to the most left leaning Guardinista . When you're watching a horror film and the most likable character is the villain that must be seen as a fundamental failure

I watch a lot of horror/slasher films and most of them I get about half way through before I turn off. Comedown had absolutely nothing new to add to the genre and the characters were pretty unlikeable, yet I found I managed to sit through the whole thing without actually turning it off.

A bunch of pretty horrible teenagers break into a condemned London tower block in order to set up a pirate radio station. However, there's the obligatory psycho happens to already be living there. And, unsurprisingly, he doesn't take too kindly to their intrusion. What follows is the typical 'hunt 'em and kill 'em' scenario.

Although the killer looks like he's already starred in I Know What You Did Last Summer, he's played by Geoff Bell, an actor who always puts in a good performance (even if he does only just squeak in this case!). The rest of the cast are basically 'killer-fodder.' You won't find yourself shedding too many tears when they start getting hacked to death. One girl is pregnant and her boyfriend is a reformed convict, so I think we're supposed to root for them. Jessica Barden, who plays a particularly 'chavvy' young lady, actually puts in a pretty good performance.

There's nothing new here and what little budget the film had seems to have been wasted on using computers to add extra blood in. Personally, I'd rather they'd have simply squirted a couple of bottles of tomato ketchup here and there, as the computer effects look a little bit too fake.

Like I say, nothing too new here, but strangely watchable and quite good fun in its genre.