Down Terrace

Upon release from prison, Bill and his son Karl arrive home at Down Terrace in Brighton. With the help of his wife Maggie, Bill decides to find the rat in his criminal organisation and a tale of recrimination, betrayal and murder ensues.

Meanwhile, Karl grows increasingly edgy and uncomfortable with his dysfunctional family. When Karl's girlfriend Valda shows up visibly pregnant, he hosts a dinner for her to meet his parents that does not end well. Karl announces that they plan to get married, but his parents disapprove and demand that he get a paternity test.

Bill's employee Garvey tells Karl that Valda dated Garvey's brother for a while recently, which enrages Karl; Karl murders Garvey and enlists his uncle Eric's help in secretly burying the body. Worried about Garvey's unexplained disappearance and that a hitman, Pringle, might talk about a previous attempt on Garvey's life, Bill orders Eric to murder Pringle and his mother, leaving his three-year-old son fatherless.

The carnage attracts Jony, a London gangster, who tells Bill that the lack of subtlety and stability has put Karl and his family at risk; Maggie promises to rein in Bill. Eric himself is poisoned by his sister Maggie because she doubts his loyalty to the family's criminal organisation. Karl, who suspects that his parents have murdered Eric, accuses them of making deals with the police after he hears a death-bed confession from Berman, their lawyer. Eventually, Valda talks Karl into murdering his parents: Karl shoots his father to death, and Valda lures his mother to an isolated farm and stabs her to death.

{{cast listing|

• Robin Hill as Karl
• Robert Hill as Bill
• Julia Deakin as Maggie
• David Schaal as Eric
• Kerry Peacock as Valda
• Tony Way as Garvey
• Mark Kempner as Berman
• Michael Smiley as Pringle
• Gareth Tunley as Jon
• Kali Peacock as Helen Garvey

}}

Down Terrace premiered at the 2009 Fantastic Fest. It was released on DVD on 17 May 2011.{{cite web|url=http://twitchfilm.com/2011/05/evokative-films-releases-down-terrace-on-dvd-may-17th.html|title=Evokative Films Releases DOWN TERRACE On DVD May 17th!|last=Mack|first=Andrew|work=Twitch Film|date=2011-05-03|accessdate=2014-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103193619/http://twitchfilm.com/2011/05/evokative-films-releases-down-terrace-on-dvd-may-17th.html|archive-date=3 January 2014|url-status=dead}}

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 86% of 37 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.8/10.{{cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/down-terrace/|title=Down Terrace|work=Rotten Tomatoes|accessdate=2014-01-02}} Metacritic rated it 68/100.{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/down-terrace|title=Down Terrace|work=Metacritic|accessdate=2014-01-02}} Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it a "grimly amusing" and "persuasively acted" film that "has too many narrative gaps for its pieces to cohere satisfactorily."{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/movies/15down.html?_r=0#h|title=Trying to Sniff Out a Rat Hiding in a Toxic World|last=Holden|first=Stephen|authorlink=Stephen Holden|work=The New York Times|date=2010-10-14|accessdate=2014-01-02}} Anthony Quinn of The Independent rated it 4/5 stars and called it a "genuinely different" gangster film that shows great promise for Wheatley.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/down-terrace-15-2038791.html|title=Down Terrace (15)|last=Quinn|first=Anthony|work=The Independent|date=2010-07-30|accessdate=2014-01-02}} Robert Bell of Exclaim! called it "an anomalous and consistently hilarious, if flawed, comedy of idiosyncrasy and misanthropy."{{cite news|url=http://exclaim.ca/Reviews/Film/down_terrace-directed_by_ben_wheatley|title=Down Terrace|last=Bell|first=Robert|work=Exclaim!|date=2010-11-11|accessdate=2014-01-02}} David Parkinson of Empire rated it 3/5 stars and called it a "bleakly hilarious reclamation of the British crime genre from peddlers of mockney muppetry."{{cite web|url=http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?DVDID=118491|title=Down Terrace|last=Parkinson|first=David|work=Empire|accessdate=2014-01-02}} Philip French of The Guardian called it a "highly entertaining, low-budget black comedy".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/aug/01/down-terrace-film-review|title=Down Terrace|last=French|first=Philip|authorlink=Philip French|work=The Guardian|date=2010-07-31|accessdate=2014-01-02}} Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "There's a deadpan streak of larceny coursing through the corroded pipes of Down Terrace, a darkly comedic approach to the British working-class social realism inhabited by Ken Loach and Mike Leigh."{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/down-terrace-film-review-29783|title=Down Terrace -- Film Review|last=Rechtshaffen|first=Michael|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=2010-10-14|accessdate=2014-01-02}} Ronnie Sheib of Variety wrote, "Cleverly channeling gangster tropes through a British kitchen-sink soap opera, TV scribe-helmer Ben Wheatley has concocted a nifty black comedy, with a little help from his friends, in Down Terrace."{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2010/film/reviews/down-terrace-1117942464/|title=Review: 'Down Terrace'|last=Sheib|first=Ronnie|work=Variety|date=2010-03-24|accessdate=2014-01-02}} Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it a "distinctive and idiosyncratic" film that "is long on talk but generates its own internal rhythms and pace that makes it feel bracing and vibrantly alive."{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-oct-15-la-et-down-terrace-review-story.html|title=Movie review: 'Down Terrace'|last=Thomas|first=Kevin|work=Los Angeles Times|date=2010-10-15|access-date=2014-01-02}} Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly rated the film A− and called it "a dark and hilarious thwomping of the whole miserablist British gangster genre."{{cite web|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20437259,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031013349/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20437259,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 October 2010|title=Down Terrace (2010)|last=Schwarzbaum|first=Lisa|work=Entertainment Weekly|date=2010-10-27|accessdate=2014-01-02}} Jason Anderson of the Toronto Star called it "an enjoyably nasty piece of business" that is "both horrific and hilarious".{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2010/11/11/down_terrace_o_brighton_where_art_thou.html|title=Down Terrace|last=Anderson|first=Jason|work=Toronto Star|date=2010-11-11|accessdate=2014-01-02}}

Down Terrace won the Raindance Award at the British Independent Film Awards 2009{{cite web|url=http://bifa.org.uk/winners/2009|title=2009 Winners|publisher=British Independent Film Awards|accessdate=2011-04-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505115713/http://www.bifa.org.uk/winners/2009|archive-date=5 May 2010|url-status=dead}} and the Next Wave Awards for Best Feature and Best Screenplay at the Fantastic Fest 2009.{{cite web|last=Kelly|first=Kevin|url=http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/30/fantastic-fest-announces-2009-award-winners/|title=Fantastic Fest Announces 2009 Award Winners|work=Cinematical|date=2009-09-30|accessdate=2011-04-22}}

On 8 February 2011, Ben Wheatley won the award of Most Promising Newcomer for Down Terrace at the Evening Standard British Film Awards for 2010.{{cite web|url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/article-23921413-the-best-of-british-film-at-evening-standard-awards.do|title=The best of British cinema at Evening Standard Film Awards|work=Evening Standard|accessdate=2011-04-22|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110318225950/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/article-23921413-the-best-of-british-film-at-evening-standard-awards.do|archivedate=18 March 2011|df=dmy-all}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|http://www.downterrace.com}}
• {{IMDb title|1489167|Down Terrace}}

{{Ben Wheatley}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Down Terrace}}

Category:2009 films

Category:British crime films

Category:British independent films

Category:British gangster films

Category:Films set in Brighton

Category:Films directed by Ben Wheatley

Category:2009 directorial debut films

Category:Films shot in East Sussex

Category:2000s English-language films

Category:2000s British films