Shallow Grave

A dirty sheriff, decent kills, and a headshot! This above average thriller gem is totally worth your time. The abuse of power in this movie is more relevant than ever! Truly a film that will give you angst and anxiety!

Good to see that the opinions here about SHALLOW GRAVE are consistent: It's a better movie than it probably had to be. An opening teaser segment with a co-ed being butchered in a shower is a dead end, or rather an attempt to mollify audience members who expect films with such titles to feature such content. Once that's out of the way and the misleading "bimbos off to party on spring break" setup is complete what you are left with is indeed one mean movie.

It's actually more of a hicksploitation thriller than an outright horror film though the central character is indeed a psychopath. He's a small town sheriff who's used to getting his way and has no scruples against planting incriminating evidence, violating people's Constitutional rights, or resorting to outright murder when convenient for his needs. Four young ladies on a road trip happen upon him murdering a local squeeze and find themselves powerless to escape his clutches. The film is mean spirited, unforgiving, knows that the scenario being presented is chillingly possible & has fun playing with our fear of ending up in a similar jam. Check it out.

The beginning's not too promising -- a bit of college hi-jinks involving a quartet of over-aged sorority girls -- but then the girls head for spring-break in Florida and things improve. They become entangled in murder in a small Georgia town and while the plot turns are fairly predictable, they are carried out more efficiently than in many other movies boasting "name" casts and big budgets. True, the subplot featuring two young men, (also heading for Florida), goes nowhere, and the ending is abrupt and unsatisfying, but all in all this is one of those items found on the dusty back shelves of a video store which is actually worth watching. Acting honors go to Tony March's bare chest which is shown to splendid advantage in several hot and sweaty close-ups.

Four friends head off to spring break in Florida, but get a flat tire in the middle of Medley, Georgia where one of them witnesses the local sheriff murder a woman. Now, they're on the run and who will take their word for it over the sheriff.

Shallow Grave rarely takes the traditional way out and you're never sure where it's headed. From the first scene of the movie that calls to mind both Psycho and the corny opening movie-within-a-movie moment from Blow Out, the filmmakers are playing with our expectations in a way that would make Hitchcock proud. It takes a traditional slasher film set up of party-loving teens breaking down in the middle of nowhere and makes it frighteningly realistic and plausible.

Shallow Grave doesn't have a franchise-ready iconic killer, but it's all the more frightening for it. It also has a main foursome of likable young women who don't go out of their way to grate our nerves or make unrealistic choices to drive the plot forward.

And I was fighting it this time. Hmmmmm, where have I seen this opening voyeuristic scene? Cut to, THE SHOWER SCENE FROM PSYCHO! (with admittedly a very fetching full-frontal involved). So, these three Catholic University girls... and their MOM prank another student who dared to try to poach one of their dates. The ladies escape their nun's wrath, and promptly head out on a road trip to Ft. Lauderdale. Cue the bargain-basement soundtrack!

They meet two "hunks" at a roadside BBQ, make plans to meet the next day, and one of them steals an ID as insurance. Next day, precisely in Medley, Georgia, they blow a tire in their K-car, and the dingy-est broad had gotten rid of the spare to make room for more luggage. So another goes into the woods to pee (sorry, learning their names was asking too much of me for a "5"), and witnesses a man kill his mistress. Turns out he's exactly the wrong guy in town to witness murdering someone. The rest of the film is this kind of downward spiral into crooked, corrupt sheriffs and their slow-witted deputies. Yup, they even round up an armed redneck posse to hunt and kill the girls.

Frankly, I didn't find this thrilling, exciting, intriguing, or particularly horrific (though I did like the "doomed" scenario). Actually, a few things to like about this rather bland manhunt. Like I said, this storyline does not seem to go the ladies' way, and when you've got law enforcement (NATURALLY) against you, well, let's say if you're a fan of downbeat endings, you'll appreciate this. There's a subplot of the two guys trying to find out what happened to their supposed meeting, and they are entertainingly SOL on multiple occasions. I dunno, great shower scene, and a De Palma rip.

I think if they made it to Ft. Lauderdale, then the murderous shenanigans began... and not to be "sexist" (for shame!), but maybe this wouldn't have been such a sausage fest. Like, how many times do I need to see the sheriff's hairy, sweaty chest? Ok, now I'm really reaching. I was bored for the bulk of this.