Shallow Grave Reviews

I saw this one when it was released in the theaters and I must have been about 15 years old back then. Even though it is nowadays pretty much forgotten, I think it is a shame and it really blew me away. This was the first movie directed by Danny Boyle and one of the first starring Ewan McGregor and, of course, I didn't know those guys before watching this flick but they quickly became some of the most highly regarded British director and actor. However, McGregor shouldn't be the only one to be praised, Kerry Fox and Christopher Eccleston were also quite fascinating and concerning Fox, it is a shame that, except for 'An Angel at My Table', she hasn't done anything really amazing in the rest of her career. Anyway, I think that, in this movie, they managed to perfectly mix very different genres with tremendous success. I thought it was very original and actually, I do believe it is a great masterpiece. Since then, I have seen all the movies directed by Danny Boyle and even though I enjoyed every single one of those, even though some of those were very really amazing, it is still my favorite one after all these years. To conclude, I think it is a great dark and unsettling tale with some fascinating 3 dimensional characters and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Danny Boyle's work.

An absolutely sensational Hitchcockian black comedy, brilliantly directed by Danny Boyle. Excellent performances from the leads Kerry Fox, Ewan McGregor and particularly Christopher Eccleston as flatmates who find the newest member of the household dead along with a suitcase full of money. The almost psychedelic proceedings as the three debate what to do with the body, whether to spend the money and the eventual aftermath of dismembering the body all play out thrillingly to the final, brilliant twist after each friend is driven mad. There's genuine suspense and unease but also laughter and the witty script and creepy direction push the film along at a nice pace. Outstanding.

5/5

works on so many levels and emotions - dark in places even darker in others - captures a real weird feeling throughout. Love it -

This is another surprise from Danny Boyle. I had the same feelings for Shallow Grave as I did for The Beach before I watched them and I was surprised both ways. Shallow Grave is a masterpiece that is filled with suspense, black-comedy and gruesome violence. It is a film with twists and turns in it. What I loved about this film was that it was all of those things and it is one of those stories that sort of tells a tale or a true story. To be honest, I had low expectations for Shallow Grave because it didn't seem that good but I was dead wrong. The title slightly put me off it to start with because it sounded like a story that would freak me out and that it would be a typical horror film but it isn't at all.


Ewan McGregor's acting debut in Shallow Grave was absolutely fantastic. Two of his film collaborations with Danny Boyle have been absolutely awesome! I obviously prefer Trainspotting over Shallow Grave. His performance as Alex Law was real bad-ass at times but rather serious at the same time. After seeing Trainspotting and Shallow Grave I have absolutely no idea what lead to McGregor starring in the prequel Star Wars trilogy. Alex is a journalist who lives with his two friends David and Juliet. Alex is the most dependable one of the three and he cooks all of their food for them but he is the one who leads the three to bury their new flatmate in a forest. Christopher Eccleston's performance as David was a very mysterious and a rather dangerous one because after doing the deed that was to bury their flatmate even though they didn't kill him and he mysteriously builds his own little den in the loft of their flat. That leads to very severe consequences. Kerry Fox and the character she portrayed Juliet reminded me a lot of the way Jamie Lee Curtis portrayed Wanda Gershwitz in A Fish Called Wanda because she was a real charmer and almost irrisistable to the men around her and both have little plots up their sleeves. It is really good and really silly at the same time because one event affects the friendship between the three of them and the consequences that occur.


After seeing this now, Danny Boyle has become a favourite director of mine and is the best British director after Alfred Hitchcock. He still hasn't done one bad film yet. His work on Shallow Grave led to his work on Trainspotting and 28 Days Later because of the black-comedy, suspense, serious story and also the realistic violence involved. I think Shallow Grave is Boyle's most underrated film which makes his outstanding debut of this film one of the best film director debuts of all time. The script is very original because it is totally typical from Boyle. All of the scripts in his films are original apart from Slumdog Millionaire. Most scripts are original because they have a lot of swearing and violence involved. For example, Coen films like Fargo and O Brother Where Art Thou? If not Danny Boyle, Shallow Grave would have been a great film from the Coen brothers. The Coen film Shallow Grave is slightly similar to is Blood Simple.


Ewan McGregor's debut in Shallow Grave is extremely underrated and is in my opinion one of the best debuts of all time. Shallow Grave is my third favourite Danny Boyle film after Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire and especially Trainspotting which is of course his best film. I underestimated this film too much to start with and now after watching it, I can't believe that I did and don't understand why. Shallow Grave is another fantastic masterpiece that was released in 1994 and that is one of the best years in film of all time. Boyle has created a masterpiece that I would definitely call one of the best British thrillers of all time as well as one of the best British films of all time too.

This is an excellent film...well written, well cast, and with great acting. I love the twists in the plot, and how the movie turns out. Ewan McGregor is great fun, and his character, and his character's room mates are a trio of mean-spirited jokers, which gave me a lot of laughs.

If you're looking for a flatmate, give this movie a quick watch for hot tips on interviewing potentials: "So, what can you bring to this house?" :-D