Attack the Block (2011)

  This movie has been on my radar for some time now.  It only got a limited theater release after making the festival circuit but every critic that saw it raved about it.  I have been eagerly waiting for it's release onto video, figuring (rightly) that was the only way I was going to get to see it.

Has anyone mentioned how cold this last week or so has been on the East Coast?  Holy Jeebus.  I've had to dig out  some of my fuzzy winter pajama pants just to cope.  But, that happens to be my favorite attire for horror movie watching.

This reminded me a lot of Feast, a little horror-comedy that I felt was just slightly too disgusting to own.  Attack the Block doesn't go for the gross-out;  it prefers to ramp up the suspense instead.

A group of South London teenaged hooligans start their night by mugging a woman (Jodie Whitaker) and generally being little bastards until they see something fall from the sky and crash into a car.  The leader, Moses (John Boyega) investigates and gets his face mauled by the creature.  Naturally, they bludgeon it to death.  Filled with the high that comes from defeating your enemy, they parade the corpse around their neighborhood before stashing it in the local drug dealer's weed room.  Whilst discussing how much money they will make selling the unidentified alien to the newspapers, they suddenly notice a lot more falling stars.  These creatures are not as small as the first one, though.  As one kid describes, they are "gorilla-wolf-lookin' motherfuckers".

The creature design is really fantastic for being simple yet spooky.  They are about the size of small gorillas with fur that is so black it seems to swallow light.  They have no eyes but their rows upon rows of fangs glow in the dark.  They are fast, agile, and deadly.  Don't get attached to any of the characters. That's all I'm saying.

The filmmakers and critics were worried the movie wouldn't do well because the accents are accurate to the region.  That is to say, they are damn near impenetrable.  Rob and I watch a lot of British stuff, from Doctor Who to Red Dwarf and even we had to rewind a couple of times to make sure we understood.  I won't judge if you have to use the subtitles, but I will judge if you don't go see this movie.  It's on my list to Buy.