Pelo Prazer De Matar

This film's Edinburgh set crime thriller, which dips into murky chase torture at times has a sense that 'Lola' (the modern-ish German classic) is going to be parodied.

Obviously pitched at being outside of actual reality, where wealthy landlords, pimps or drug dealers (known in the film as 'private bankers') not only extort their penniless customers but also bait and taunt them, as in some cruel, sadistic game.

Unfortunately, this is no The Third Man (shadowy sinister characters lurking on dark corners), Lola (the 'chase' seems to be mainly driving about in a Jaguar saloon) whilst The Trainspotting vibes resonate most. Except, there simply aren't the oddly likable, charismatic characters in that, for a start. There's quite a few Hitchcockian twists with a silent, weaving camera teasing us, though.

It seems that the whole thing passed me by without making much of an impression. Not sure exactly where it fell down, maybe a bit in each. I daresay I'll have forgotten it by tomorrow. There have been US equivalents that have worked better, maybe for being more villainous, or better written, or better everything. It's not a bad effort, though and worth watching if it's free and not much else is on. Equally, it won't sink the indie Brit film scene but very definitely, unlike Trainspotting, won't set it alight either.

NEW TOWN KILLERS is a low budget Scottish riff on the Van Damme film HARD TARGET and many other movies, such as THE GAME and the 'hunting human' classic that spawned them all, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. This one sees a hard-up teenager lured into playing a deadly game by a bored investment banker (!) with murder in mind.

The problem with the film is the lack of talent on the part of the filmmakers. They try hard, sure, but the issue is with the direction: the attempt to make this flashy and appealing to young people just makes it feel dated and I honestly thought it was shot in the 1990s. Then there are the animated titles, promising a decent free-running movie; unfortunately the opening sequence is unconnected to the rest of the movie and the only example of Parkour in the whole thing.

Instead we get low budget emoting throughout and some dodgy writing which gradually sacrifices plot and character in favour of some predictable 'twists' and endless, only mildly exciting chase sequences. The main character really suffers from one-dimensional characterisation; despite the best efforts of star James Anthony Pearson, he's never likable for a second and comes across as a below-average-intelligence thug.

What a relief, then, to have Dougray Scott on board as the film's villain. Scott is a delight here, a joy as he reveals in his own sheer evilness. He brings verve and vigour to his role and at times seems to be the only professional actor on board. Certainly he's the best thing about the movie and as NEW TOWN KILLERS reached its second half he was the only reason I kept watching.

I hadn't heard anything about this British Independent film before I saw it come up on TV last week. There are some very good Indie films out there and on the face of it this one looked pretty good, but more of that later. The setting is the urban environment of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland.

A young man, Sean Macdonald, is down on his luck. He has lived in a flat (or apartment if you prefer) with his sister Alice since their mother passed away. Sean finds it hard to hold down a job and Alice has managed to get herself into a large amount of debt. Even Sean's best friend, Sam, cannot help him out. So when two men, Alistair Raskolnikov and Jamie Stewart offer him the chance to win enough money to pay off all of Alice's debts he finds himself with no option but to take them up on the offer. All he has to do is hide from the two of them from 9PM until 9AM the following morning. What follows is a dangerous game of cat and mouse in the back-streets of Edinburgh. I will not tell you who wins, but there are many twists and turns along the way.

What we end up with is a gritty and at times violent chase thriller with plenty of excitement and some interesting twists and turns. That's the first half of the movie. Unfortunately the second half does not live up to the promise of the first. There are decent performances from all of the leading cast, so honourable mentions go to Dougray Scott as Alistair Raskolnikov, Alastair Mackenzie as Jamie Stewart, James Anthony Pearson as Sean Macdonald, Liz White as Alice Kelley and Charles Mnene as Sam. Oh and there's also a brief scene with Karen Gillan, now starring along side Matt Smith on TV in Dr Who.

As I said the second half of the film is a bit of a let-down. A lot of the energy and tension built up in the first half is lost and I felt the film just petered out rather than building up to a big finish. So, in the end it was a bit disappointing although Dougray Scott is very menacing as the bad guy. I certainly wouldn't want to come across him on a dark night! Over all, a good first half let down buy a very average second… Not recommended.

My score: 5.3/10

The Encyclopaedia of Film Noir reckons that films have to be American to qualify as film noir. As a generalisation I can accept this but nor as a universal truth. New Town Kill is British (Scottish if you like) and it is clearly a film noir or, at least, a neo-noir.

I'm honestly deeply impressed with this British film, a phrase you will seldom hear me utter. Most Brit films are an embarrassment to me, being usually limp, unfunny and completely lacking in cool, style or engaging story. I'm glad to see the back of the Film Council and all the overpaid "executives" who dole out what remains of their money, after their fat salaries have been accounted for, for another flaccid waste of time.

This film, on the other hand, IS cool, engaging and genuinely exciting in a way that movies should be. The budget is clearly small but the acting talent on display is massive. The direction and writing by Richard Jobson are excellent and I just love the sheer nihilism of the plot and the fact that everything does not need to be justified or explained. The "villain" is completely amoral and the "hero", apart from family allegiances, is ultimately not much different.

A British film can be film noir and New Town killers is the proof.

PS If IMDb is for genuine film lovers then why do glossy American blockbusters get hundreds of reviews whilst really interesting independent films or foreign language films (i.e. non-American films) end up with a handful of reviews like this one?

A script this poor should never have been made. There is an attempt at social commentary, monied classes playing psychopathic games with the underclass simply because they can. There is an attempt to tick the thriller genre boxes, but all terribly clichéd - a jump across rooftops, flashing red tracker lights, a stalk through a nightclub (and switched identities that resolve this), hiding in the stalls in a toilet... There is not one original thought or scene in this whole film. The dialogue is full of clichés - "I am your friend" - and often lacks plausibility. For example, the protagonist is enraged when he discovers his sister has run up a debt of 12,000 pounds. The hunters offer him exactly 12,000 pounds to be hunted. When he calls to accept, he asks: "How much are you offering again?" The theme seems to take issue with the corrupting influence of money but has a flippant attitude towards male prostitution. This kind of puerile writing makes it impossible to talk about the performances, the actors simply have nothing to work with. This is a po-faced, poorly executed film, the main achievement being to confirm that whatever talents Jobson has, screen writing is not one of them. Two stars for some nice photography of one of my favourite cities.