Shallow Grave
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| Shallow Grave | |
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 Shallow Grave film poster |
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| Directed by | Danny Boyle |
| Produced by | Andrew MacDonald |
| Written by | John Hodge |
| Starring | Kerry Fox Christopher Eccleston Ewan McGregor |
| Music by | Simon Boswell |
| Cinematography | Brian Tufano |
| Editing by | Masahiro Hirakubo |
| Distributed by | Film Four |
| Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Shallow Grave is a 1994 black comedy feature film that marks the directorial debut of Danny Boyle with an original screenplay by John Hodge.
The film also provided starring roles for the then unknown actors Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston and Kerry Fox.
The production was funded by Channel 4 television and the film distributed by Polygram Filmed Entertainment who as with their other releases generated a large amount of publicity for the film on a limited budget.
The film is set in Edinburgh, Scotland, although the majority of filming took place in Glasgow because the filmmakers received a £150,000 grant from the Glasgow Film Fund.
Tagline: What's a little murder among friends?
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[edit] Cast
The film stars Ewan McGregor in his first major film role, alongside Christopher Eccleston and Kerry Fox. The supporting cast is led by Keith Allen, Peter Mullen, and Ken Stott. McGregor's mother has a cameo early in the film as a potential roommate.
[edit] Plot
Alex (McGregor) a journalist, David (Eccleston) an accountant, and Juliet (Fox) an M.D., are three friends who share a flat in Edinburgh. They need a new flat mate and after a sequence of interviews (in which unwanted applicants are rejected with calculated cruelty) take in the mysterious Hugo (Keith Allen). When Hugo suddenly dies they discover he has a very large amount of cash in a suitcase. The three decide to keep the money, and to dispose of Hugo's corpse in the titular "Shallow Grave". Straws are drawn to decide who is to dismember the corpse, and the unwilling David is lumbered with the task. The task complete, the three return to their daily lives. Alex and Juliet decide to spend some of the money whereas David starts to suffer minor trauma from the whole incident. After discovering that Alex and Juliet have spent a lot of the money on meaningless items, he resorts to moving the suitcase into the loft and out of their way. To make sure the money is safe, he eventually moves in the loft and seldom comes down except when the flat is empty.
A visit from a bunch of criminals who had business with the deceased Hugo invade the flat and break Alex's shins. In the pain, he gives up the location of the money as being in the loft. Unaware that David is in the loft, one of the criminals enters it and looks for the money, only to be assulted by David with a hammer. Hearing a soft thud, the other criminal enters the loft only to suffer the same fate as his friend. Both are disposed of in the same manner as Hugo; dismembered and buried in a 'Shallow Grave' by David, who is becoming more and more psychologically unstable. After a few days, David starts to drill holes in the ceiling, which is either for light, air or more possibly for viewing his flatmates. Alex manages to get into the loft and find the money, however on his descent he is confronted by David and a drill. Alex convinces David that he was not up there for the money but to make sure he was alright. Juliet, aware that her flatmate is becoming more and more dangerous, buys a plane ticket to escape him.
A few days later, Alex is called upon by his boss to visit the scene of a crime where three bodies have been found, which turn out to be those of Hugo and the criminals. While Alex is investigating the scene, Juliet and David realise their true feelings for each other. Alex comes back to find that they have sided against him blaming him for the discovery of the bodies because the grave was not deep enough. After a series of visits by the police, David decides to leave the flat with the suitcase of money. As he leaves he is confronted by Juliet who tells him to take her with him, which he refuses. He discovers that Alex is on the phone to the police and in the confusion, he hits Juliet. Alex attacks David back and they drag the fight into the kitchen where David grabs a knife and stabs Alex below the shoulder and pins him to the floor. He grabs another knife but is stopped by Juliet, who thrusts a knife through his thoat from behind. Juliet then removes her shoe and hammers the knife further into Alex before grabbing the suitcase and catching a flight to Brazil. Checking the suitcase in the airport car park, she finds that Alex has replaced the stacks of notes with newspaper cuttings, knowing that either she or David (or both) would plan to run away with the money.
The film ends where we see Alex still alive and laughing. The camera moves down beneath him, revealing the money that was supposed to be in the suitcase is hidden under the floorboards.
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[edit] Meaning
The main purpose of the film is to show that money corrupts the people who you would least expect it to. Three friends turn against each other and attempt to kill to gain possession of the large fortune.
[edit] Soundtrack
| Shallow Grave OST | ||
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| Compilation album by Various Artists | ||
| Released | 1995 | |
| Genre | Electronic, Jazz, Rock | |
| Label | EMI | |
| Producer(s) | Simon Boswell | |
[edit] Track listing
- Leftfield - Shallow Grave - 4:38
- Simon Boswell - Shallow Grave Theme - 3:30
- Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares for Me - 3:38
- Simon Boswell - Laugh Riot - 3:02
- Leftfield - Release The Dubs - 5:45
- John Carmichael Band - Strip The Willow - 3:12
- Simon Boswell - Loft Conversion - 5:45
- Simon Boswell - A Spade, We Need A Spade - 2:41
- Simon Boswell - Shallow Grave, Deep Depression - 4:49
- Simon Boswell - Hugo's Last Trip - 5:39
- Andy Williams - Happy Heart - 3:11
[edit] Trivia
This film was #91 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
[edit] External links
- Shallow Grave at the Internet Movie Database
- Review at Cult Fiction.
