Shallow Grave |  | Director: Danny Boyle
Actors: Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor, Ken Stott, Keith Allen
Studio: Polygram Video
Category: DVD
Buy New: $53.92
as of 2/10/2010 08:39 EST details
New (5) Used (8) from $17.48
Seller: btrdev
Rating:  72 reviews
Sales Rank: 71966
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 0
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 6305181284
UPC: 780063527521
EAN: 9786305181286
ASIN: 6305181284
Theatrical Release Date: February 10, 1995
Release Date: December 8, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The first feature from director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew MacDonald, and screenwriter John Hodge (who went on to make the enormously popular Trainspotting, the not-so-well-received A Life Less Ordinary, and The Beach), Shallow Grave begins with three obnoxious roommates mockingly interrogating applicants who want to share their spacious flat. The guy they finally choose doesn't last long--they find him dead from a drug overdose along with a suitcase full of money that he no longer needs. They decide to keep the money; this of course requires that they discreetly dispose of the body, which proves to be a gruesome, traumatic business. They begin to suspect each other of betrayal and become increasingly deranged. The movie wants to be a satirical comment on the greed of British yuppies but is more an exercise in stylish paranoia, where the color of the walls matters more than why the characters behave the way they do. The clever cinematography and macabre humor make Shallow Grave worth watching, just don't expect to like anyone in it. Starring the very hip trio of Kerry Fox (An Angel at My Table, The Last Days of Chez Nous), Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting, Velvet Goldmine, Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace), and Christopher Eccleston (Jude, Elizabeth). --Bret Fetzer
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 72
 Roomates can lose their mind when given a suitcase filled with cash February 9, 2010
Pork Chop (Lisbon, Portugal)
Shallow Grave (1994) is centered in Britain. Its protagonists are 3
apartment roommates showing on the one hand, professional behavior
and career potential, but on the other, an unstable character in a
variety of other circumstances.
The demeanor is obviously intended to strip off the formality,
artificial layering and rigidness that plagues too often, too many
movies. As such, it reveals to viewers juvenile horseplay and
pranks, and an intimate, more relaxed atmosphere. This helps in
appealing to youths more than otherwise, as also confirmed in the
choice of a techo and trance opening song, with fancy camera work in
the first moments.
The playful Kerry Fox plays a medical doctor, the geekish
Christopher Eccleston is a promising chartered accountant, and Ewan
McGregor the more street-kid freelance news reporter.
The script discusses the what goes on in the minds of the roommates,
initially 4 but shortly after reduced to 3, such as the intricacies,
but also the natural limitations in loyalty, affection and
friendship when humans are tested under dire circumstances, in this
case, a huge cash windfall.
The lesson of the movie, if there is one, is that roomates can lose
their minds as their obsession changes from survival and employment,
to keeping track of a suitcase filled with cash, protecting
themselves from outside gangsters, amd double crosses between
themselves, fearing being the oddman out, or someone taking the loot
all for themselves.
From a non-British viewer standpoint, clearly immense effort was
made in demonstrating the modern British lifestyle of young adults,
which is is intriguing. Casual activities today that are
standard-fare, perhaps are not the case everywhere, such as watching
digital cable TV channels (otherwise unobtainable on rabbit-ears),
eating potato chips from a bag, wearing brand name expensive pants,
shirts, coats, cardigans, vests, suit and tie, blue pinstripe
shirts, pullover, designer eyeglasses, watching Jeopardy-style
gameshows, a Pearl Drums, handheld video camera, DVD player, etc.
Many of those scenes are obvious product placements, despite the
credits showing a government funding. There is a jig or square folk
dance shown on screen, accordingly.
This commercial aspects digs even deeper, to the extent that a
warehouse-style Home-Depot or Lowes hardware store is filmed, with
the actors purchasing a panoply of tools (drill, hacksaw, body bag,
bits, hammer) to dispose of 3 mobsters that those city slickers
somehow managed to neutralize.
Some scenes are difficult to watch, such as the waterboarding, the
blows with a tire irons and more, as the mobsters try to get
information and trace the suitcase with cash that one of their
syndicate members ran off with.
The police detectives make their presence known on screen. The movie
ending will jolt some viewers.
From a cinematography and soundtrack standpoint, those are very good
to excellent, meaning crisp pictures and a series of pleasing
musical numbers.
 Thriller Too Arty For It's Own Good May 16, 2009
David Baldwin (Philadelphia,PA USA)
"Shallow Grave" falls in the category of flicks that I admire but don't particularly like. Director Danny Boyle displays some artistic fluorishes here but you sense that he's still getting his feet wet. He seems to be riffing off of Hitchcock and he just barely escapes parody. Considering the film is barely over ninety minutes the story seems incredibly thin. Money is the root of all evil? We get it. The central characters are spoiled yuppies who at their core are psychotic greedhounds? Real original observation. Recommended for Boyle completists only.
 Perfection February 22, 2009
jannette
By the end credits, you'll be smiling in disbelief. I guarantee it.
There is not a single off note or misstep about this colorful, offbeat, tight little thriller. It's laden with plenty of bite and dark humour, and the small cast (including the always great Chris Eccleston, and a boyish Ewan Mcgregor in his first starring role) is fabulous.
This is Danny Boyle's best film. Yes, it's better than both 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Trainspotting' combined, in my opinion. This film is what a great independent movie should be, and it just seems to gain in popularity as time goes by. Ask any film buff, and you will find that most responses will be similar to this review, all using common adjectives. Memorable. Smart. Sexy. Hilarious. Provocative. Shocking.
Brilliant.
One of the best storyline thrillers ever. April 29, 2008
Lynn Benson (Seattle)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
First of all, let's just tell the review readers that the low ratings are obviously few and far between for a reason. Take stock in the fact that the majority of ratings are 5 stars.
I own this film on good old VHS tape. Long before Ewan McGregor was a household name. So please, throw away any idea that he makes or breaks this film. It's stunning. The story sucks you in and you are there, alone with just you and your television. It will be easy to block out the outside world and become mesmerized. And horrified and shocked and aghast and bewildered.
I promise this film is amazing. Be careful of reading too many reviews as they'll stupidly give away too much of the film.
Brilliant thriller, without the gore April 28, 2008
Douglas Setter (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
I have seen this movie twice. This is a brilliant movie that is similar to A Simple Plan, but much more entertaining. 3 friends who share a large apartment decide to rent one of their rooms. They make a game out of embarrassing every applicant until they take in a gangster. The gangster dies with a suitcase full of money left. They stash a dead gangster's body and hide the money. Meanwhile, two nasty gangsters are torturing people along their search for the suitcase of money. Which, adds pressure to the 3 prankster friends, who start getting on each other's nerves and distrust mounts. Some formally nice people turn hard, cunning and a bit crazy. Eventually, even murderous. The killing scenes are done suspenseful, but tasteful. The end totally threw me off, but it did make sense. Well worth watching. Full of British Humor and irony.
Doug Setter, Bsc. author of One Less Victim: A Prevention Guide and Stomach Flattening
Showing reviews 1-5 of 72
|
|
|
