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Down Terrace

  • 2009
  • R
  • 1h 29m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
4.3K
YOUR RATING
Julia Deakin, Robin Hill, David Schaal, Michael Smiley, and Robert Hill in Down Terrace (2009)
 	A crime family looks to unmask the police informant in their midst who threatens to take down their business.
Play trailer2:37
2 Videos
86 Photos
Dark ComedyComedyCrimeDrama

A crime family looks to unmask the police informant in their midst who threatens to take down their business.A crime family looks to unmask the police informant in their midst who threatens to take down their business.A crime family looks to unmask the police informant in their midst who threatens to take down their business.

  • Director
    • Ben Wheatley
  • Writers
    • Ben Wheatley
    • Robin Hill
  • Stars
    • Robin Hill
    • Robert Hill
    • Julia Deakin
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    4.3K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Ben Wheatley
    • Writers
      • Ben Wheatley
      • Robin Hill
    • Stars
      • Robin Hill
      • Robert Hill
      • Julia Deakin
    • 32User reviews
    • 34Critic reviews
    • 68Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 4 nominations total

    Videos2

    Down Terrace
    Trailer 2:37
    Down Terrace
    Down Terrace (Exclusive Clip)
    Clip 2:07
    Down Terrace (Exclusive Clip)
    Down Terrace (Exclusive Clip)
    Clip 2:07
    Down Terrace (Exclusive Clip)

    Photos85

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    + 82
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    Top cast17

    Edit
    Robin Hill
    Robin Hill
    • Karl
    Robert Hill
    Robert Hill
    • Bill
    Julia Deakin
    • Maggie
    David Schaal
    David Schaal
    • Eric
    Kerry Peacock
    • Valda
    Tony Way
    Tony Way
    • Garvey
    Mark Kempner
    • Berman
    Michael Smiley
    Michael Smiley
    • Pringle
    Gareth Tunley
    • Jon
    Kali Peacock
    • Helen Garvey
    Kitty Blue
    • Child
    Luke Hartney
    • Spitz
    Simon Smith
    • Musician
    Paul George
    • Musician
    Simon Walker
    • Musician
    Janet Hill
    • Mrs Pringle
    Sara Dee
    Sara Dee
    • Radio Reporter
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Ben Wheatley
    • Writers
      • Ben Wheatley
      • Robin Hill
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews32

    6.44.3K
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    Featured reviews

    8axlrhodes

    Claustrophobic and intense. Ben Wheatley is an exciting talent.

    Writer/director Ben Wheatley's debut feature film Down Terrace is British drama that fuses together the kitchen sink social realism of Shane Meadows, Ken Loach and 'The Royle Family' to make compelling yet highly uncomfortable viewing. Wheatley, who demonstrates flair for creating small moments of humour around intense menace really sets his marker down with this unsettling look into the world of a crime family in steep decline. Thanks to being mostly confined to the small rooms of your average two-up-two-down terraced house, the film has a sense of real claustrophobia which is accentuated all the more by the intensity of the drama. It's one of those films where even as people sit down to a family meal, you can sense the brewing violence in the air. The tight, confined spaces only serve to heighten the feeling of being trapped in these small rooms with psychotic characters. All the performances register strongly, the picks being Robert Hill (Bill) and Julia Deakin (Maggie), the mother and father of the house, or Godfather and Godmother. To begin with, Maggie has the demeanour of the loving, but downtrodden Mum who runs to the kitchen when the boys start arguing, but as things unfold her character develops and the performance is chillingly well measured. Anyone familiar with Wheatley's follow up film 'Kill List' will cheer when the likable Michael Smiley turns up in a similar small role. So, Down Terrace sets a strong precedent for a debut director with its realism, horror and blacker than black comedy
    9GrahamEngland

    Less Is More, Much more.

    British crime films are a very mixed bunch, for every 'Long Good Friday' or 'Sexy Beast', there is a whole load of low rent, formulaic fayre of diminishing returns.

    This film has one advantage from the off, not being set in London - or as many of the characters in the poorer films of this genre say it, 'Laanndan'. (Hiding those well brought up accents can be a strain perhaps).

    It's set in Brighton, a town (recently upgraded to a 'City') on England's south coast. But not the Brighton known to many here in recent years, the place of celeb second homes, nightclub culture, a liberal place for homosexuals before most of the rest of the country became more adult and relaxed about this part of society.

    The Brighton of mundane suburbia is the setting, not the cultural epicentre.

    Largely set in a home, where Bill and his wife live with their 34 year old son, we first see them, the father and son, after being acquitted in a drugs trial, little to celebrate though - how did they get into court in the first place? Who grassed them up - have to be someone close, to their right little, tight little world of lower ranking club employees and drug pushers.

    The home is the actual dwelling of the actor playing the father, where the son - his real life son - was actually brought up. Only the mother is played by a quite familiar actress - Julia Deakin. The father, Bill, being an ex hippy who wistfully reflects on the brief period of apparent enlightenment through Cannabis and LSD, via yoga and the Tibetan Book Of The Dead, before money, crime, harder drugs, intruded - which swept up Bill too.

    So begins a claustrophobic period of suspicion, paranoia, leading to violence and murder. Between bouts of domestic bickering, including a 'meet my pregnant girlfriend' family dinner that is a mire of passive-aggressiveness.

    The cast are largely drawn - when they are not family members of the writer and actor playing the son - from innovative and usually rather dark comedy shows and stand up.

    Micro budget it might have, but Down Terrace punches well above it's weight. Lack of flash leads to a concentration on family dynamics - albeit a deeply disturbing one - realistic script and genuine plot shocks and surprises.

    This film is refreshing, often laugh out loud funny - darkly funny usually - intense and a real gem. Clearly a labour of love from the small team involved in the whole production, a labour though of inspiration rather than just perspiration.
    8craignewman81

    Just goes to show Americans don't understand cinema.

    All of the 1% reviews on here are by Americans that just don't get it? this is classic British sink, no blinking explosions or any CGI. I find it disturbing that people actually come on to IMDb to rip into an excellent film, made with heart (and no budget) . If you want to be a faux critic at least learn the art of spelling and not bashing art for having 'so much dialogue, and not enough action' Ben Wheatley pulls his A game here. If you don't get it, fine. But there is no need to mark it down. /rant.
    7cat_ranchero

    Very very very dark...

    This film was billed as a comedy but I found it so darkly comic that I could almost take it as a straight-up drama. All the performances were excellent with both Robert and Robin Hill putting in stellar turns. A cross between a kitchen sink drama and a fly-on-the-wall documentary, I found the filming style made for a compelling watch. Unfortunately there were a couple of niggles. They are supposed to be drug dealers but we see no drug dealing going on. Also, the police were very conspicuous by their absence; not one policeman seen all the way through. You'd have thought the police would definitely be watching someone with their track record. Other than that I found it an interesting and compelling watch. Just a word for the squeamish though, Ben Wheatley does not hold back on the violence. There are a couple of quite graphic scenes in there that might have you wincing.

    SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDED

    My score: 7.1/10.

    You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.
    7markcrawshaw

    Likeable English gangster tale.

    Watching this late it's very clear that it's an early effort compared to more nuanced and sophisticated later work. A well developed story and characters build with everything on the table from the actors. Brings humanity to a mythologised group of people, medium level drug dealers. Having lived in and known Brighton some of the characters, especially Bill, ring very true, as does the easy reach to violence even though it seems simplistic.

    I remember my first experience there of some friends attempting a major purchase to set themselves up and ending with someone getting stabbed several times with a screwdriver. Could have been a scene here.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The two stars are really father and son
    • Quotes

      Karl: [to his pregnant girlfriend] Hey you've put on a bit of weight!

    • Connections
      Featured in WatchMojoUK: Top 10 Gritty British Gangster Movies (2017)
    • Soundtracks
      Babes in the Wood
      (uncredited)

      Performed by Simon Smith, Paul George, Simon Walker, Robert Hill

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    FAQ19

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 15, 2010 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Убийство - дело семейное
    • Filming locations
      • Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK(main location)
    • Production companies
      • Mondo Macabro
      • Baby Cow Productions
      • Boum Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $30,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $9,812
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $3,088
      • Oct 17, 2010
    • Gross worldwide
      • $9,812
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 29 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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