Shallow Grave

This one was difficult for me. Let me say up front that I don’t usually choose to watch anything quite this dark, and that coloured my reactions. The first viewing was punctuated by expletives as I dealt with the horror of it, even though in fact we see very little of the actual horror on screen.

So: the film first.

The opening foreshadows a lot of what’s to come. Three friends - clearly very close, very tightly bonded. But actually, you realise they aren’t very nice people. They take sadistic pleasure in their treatment of potential flatmates. It’s very funny, but somehow discomforting. David, the accountant is probably the least unpleasant of them - and even he’s got a mean streak.

As the story progresses, their already limited decency collapses, beginning with Alex (Ewan McGregor) who is the most amoral of the three. He drives the behaviour at the beginning - and then fails to cope when, having unleashed the darker side of his friends’ natures, he can’t control it. Notably, he ‘wins’ at the end. If you consider losing your friends and gaining money a ‘win’.

One of the questions I was left with was when exactly this was meant to be set. Many of the props - dial phones, accountants ledgers - seem to hint at it being intended as a period piece. On the other hand, the car registrations aren’t that far off for 1994 when this was filmed. It gives the thing a faintly surreal aspect, which is oddly comforting: not a True story, after all.

Now: Chris.

The direction and camera angles are worked to emphasise his size in this film. He begins as the geeky giant, and as the story darkens his height and strength serve to make him more alarming. Chris seems to have been carry a little more muscle in this film than Jude or the current Doctor Who. This is noticeable not so much in the obligatory dorsal shot (what is it with that?) as in the later parts of the story where he’s dressed casually (nice vest) and especially in the crisp white shirts of the Chartered Accountant. I couldn’t help thinking ‘Clark Kent’ - in fact so much that I wondered what he’d look like in the Superman kit. And much sexier than the bare flesh.

The accent is pretty good. Much better than the west country from Jude, which like many attempts at west country, gets lost somewhere in the Irish sea. By comparison, the scots accent is much more certain. True, it wanders around the lowlands, unsure of whether it’s nearer Edinburgh or Glasgow, wavering between the two. But in 90 minutes, I detected only one wince-worthy Mancunian vowel sound, which is about as good as it gets. Yeah, I know, I’m an anal accent freak. I can pin the local ones round here to a 5 mile radius. Just call me ‘Enry ‘Iggins.

Chris’s depiction of a mostly decent and rather up-tight accountant descending into homicidal maniac is just nicely believable. Somewhere you stop feeling sorry for him being bullied by Ewan McGregor and realise he’s actually driving it himself. He makes a slightly disturbing corpse.

Overall, if you like darker, creepy films, I’d certainly suggest watching this one. But if you’re after light entertainment, you might want to pass on it.

Now the screencaps: 20 of them, and all Chris. Click on the thumbnails for full size.

Quizzing the flatmates	Have you ever killed a man?	Boring? Never	Can an accountant look sinister?
Why do I think 'Clark Kent'?		Nightmares	"To Love and Happiness"
Can you hear burglars?	At the dinnertable	He loves his pasta!
More bodies		Who, me Officer?
Manic giggles	Ooohhh… those shoulders!	So what does this add? Character development in the degree of clench?	Back to that dinner party -just before it all went pear shaped.

Shallow Grave Screensaver made with these images

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