Down Terrace (Ben Wheatley, 2009)

The Wheatley method seems to be to take the trappings of the modern kitchen sink drama, in the semi-comic style of Shane Meadows, and then upset us all of a sudden. It works a treat in his feature debut, which has a bickering father-and-son drug-dealer duo cooped up in their house after narrowly avoiding going to prison, mulling over who might have stitched them up. Since we know that we're dealing with a British crime film, there will of course be violence, but here it comes wholly out of the blue and quite matter-of-factly, which serves well to make it properly chilling. There are a lot of rough edges too, but there is plenty of promise.

6/10