If You Can Sit Through Gore, ‘Grave’ Is Worth Seeing

“Shallow Grave,” now playing at the Magic Lantern, instantly brings to mind the book “A Simple Plan.”

In both stories, three people suddenly find themselves with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. Soon, bad men come looking for the cash. Then the three must kill and kill again to keep the money, and ultimately go crazy with paranoia. By the conclusion they are psychotic murderers.

“Shallow Grave” and “A Simple Plan” progressively become more and more tense until the final ironic ending. And both are hard to take because of the exceptionally bloody violence.

That makes this film, like last year’s “Natural Born Killers,” difficult to recommend (although “Shallow Grave” isn’t nearly as sick as “Killers”). It’s a good movie, but keep in mind it did have people walking out on the matinee I attended.

David (Christopher Eccleston), a quiet broker; Alex (Ewan McGregor), an obnoxious writer at a newspaper, and Juliet (Kerry Fox), a doctor, all live in the same apartment. Despite the differences in their personalities, they get along. Their trouble begins when they look for a fourth roommate and end up with a suitcase full of cash.

The suitcase poses a moral question. No one knows about the money. It literally just appeared. They must decide to keep it or turn in over to the police. They decide to keep it, but must commit a little act of mutilation to sever all ties between them and the money (no pun intended).

It’s that act that first plants the seed of insanity.

Within days they all have their own secret plan to take the money and run, and are suspicious of each other. One of them is even living in the attic with a hammer and an electric drill.

One of the most entertaining things about “Shallow Grave” is the way it suddenly cuts to some really horrifying scenes at unlikely moments. This effect is used primarily to trace the progress of the men looking for the money.

As David, Alex and Juliet happily spend the money, we are suddenly shown the sick interrogation methods being used to find the lost cash. This effect is hard on the nerves, but works nicely in terrifying the audience.

The acting is very good, especially by Fox and Eccleston. But it’s the direction by Danny Boyle and John Hodge’s script that make this film.

“Shallow Grave” is a draining experience. If you are able to sit through it, and enjoy it, then you may want to go pick up a copy of “A Simple Plan.”

Grade: A