Darren Ward/ UK 2009/ 91 min/ 18

Greed, Revenge, and shoot outs all feature in Darren Ward’s A Day of Violence, a new gritty British thriller about the perils of falling foul of your boss, and what could happen on the worst day of your life.

When debt collector, Mitchell (Nick Rendell), tries to collect a £2,000 from a client, Hopper (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) he discovers £100,000 in cash and steals it. In doing so he kick starts an unstoppable chain of events across the course of one day that may well turn out to be his last.

Ward’s latest film about the brutal nature of the criminal underworld, tells the story of a man dangerously out of his depth in an unforgiving industry. Full of gratuitous acts of violence from the very beginning, including scenes of torture, mutilation and drug taking, A Day Of Violence is unsurprisingly, not easy viewing. But behind all the scenes of destruction and foul play, the problem with the film lies in its undeveloped and somewhat clichéd plot, as the emphasis seemed to be placed on the shock value of violent acts leaving many pieces of the plot unresolved or forgotten. A macho movie from start to finish, A Day of Violence does exactly what it says on the tin.

Showing as part of the FAB Fest @Filmhouse until 2nd May
More details here