Carnage in the Suburbs
The story concerns a pivotal week in the life of a dysfunctional crime family in an unnamed town. The emotionally fragile Karl (Robin Hill) has just been let out of his prison to find that his ex-girlfriend (Kerry Peacock, his wife in real life) is pregnant. Meanwhile, his father, Bill (Robert Hill, his actual dad), has become convinced that somebody in the organization has been snitching to the cops. Over the next several days, Bill becomes increasingly more paranoid.
That is, when he’s not waxing philosophical about LSD.
The problem is that Bill’s heart isn’t in it. He fell into the whole crime boss gig, not for money or power, but for a pure love of drugs. He is an aging hippie who just wants to hang out in his caftan and smoke pot. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so. The problem of the snitch must be dealt with and after a while, it seems like knocking people off requires less energy than talking to them.
It’s ironic that not once are any of the characters shown selling drugs, which is how they earn their living after all. It’s just one of those weeks in which hiding corpses takes priority.
By the end, only a few characters have not been murdered.
Its realistic quality is Down Terrace’s greatest strength. It’s also what makes the murders so jarring. And because each of the killings are different — some are committed with Buddha-like detachment; others are fraught with emotion — it’s hard to become desensitized to the violence. People don’t tend to die easily. Also, they bleed a lot.
The family that drops acid together...
In between the executions, the interactions between Karl and his parents are so natural — so bland, even — that it feels like a documentary about the lives of unattractive lower-middle-class Englishfolk. They drink tea, squabble and drop acid together like any other family. And just like real life, some of their dialogue is toe curlingly awkward, replete with uncomfortable silences.
In fact, the most violent scenes in the movie don’t involve killing, but Karl’s parents exerting their bizarre psychological control over him.
A family on the wrong side of the law has some serious business to attend to in this black comedy from British filmmaker Ben Wheatley. Karl (Robin Hill) followed his father, Bill (Robert Hill), into the family business, which in this case happens to be organized crime, and their occupational hazards become obvious when the two return to the family home after a few days in jail. Bill is convinced that one of their associates has been talking to the police, and whoever it is needs to be silenced as soon as possible, but first they have to figure out who is the snitch. As Karl and Bill ponder the likely suspects as their allies stop by the house to check in on them -- including well-connected Uncle Eric (David Schaal), shady nightclub manager Garvey (Tony Way), crooked politician Councilor Berman (Mark Kempner), and enforcer Pringle (Michael Smiley) -- Karl gets some unexpected news from his girlfriend, Valda (Kerry Peacock), who announces that she's pregnant with his child. Karl isn't certain he's ready for the responsibilities of parenthood, and Bill and his wife, Maggie (Julia Deakin), aren't very excited about being grandparents, but the upcoming addition to the family becomes a secondary concern after Bill decides he's figured out who's the rat in the organization. Down Terrace screened at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival.
~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Movie data provided by AMG
