Shallow Grave

Shallow Grave is a 1994 British black comedy thriller film that marks the directorial debut of Danny Boyle with an original screenplay by John Hodge.

The film also provided starring roles for the then relatively little-known actors Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston and Kerry Fox.

The production was funded by Channel 4 television and the film distributed by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment who as with their other releases generated a large amount of publicity for the film on a limited budget.

Plot

David (Christopher Eccleston), a chartered accountant, Juliet (Kerry Fox), a doctor, and Alex (Ewan McGregor), a journalist, are three friends who share a flat in Edinburgh. They need a new flat mate and, after a sequence of interviews, in which unwanted applicants are rejected with calculated cruelty, take in the mysterious Hugo (Keith Allen). When Hugo suddenly dies of a drug overdose, they discover that he has a very large amount of cash in a suitcase. The three decide to keep the money and to dispose of Hugo's corpse in the titular shallow grave. The three flatmates plan to bury the body out in the forest and keep the money. To prevent the body from being identified, they decide to saw off and incinerate the hands and feet, smash in the face with a hammer, and remove the teeth.

Meanwhile, two unnamed gangsters (Peter Mullan and Leonard O'Malley) are seen in a bloody pursuit of the case, coldly killing three men in the process.

David reluctantly decides to join the scheme after evaluating how dull his accounting job is and much pleading from Alex. In the meantime, the body remains in the room and "starts to smell." The flatmates decide to draw straws for who does all of the sawing and bashing of skull. Filled with fear, David is unlucky and draws the short straw. Nauseated by the task, he reluctantly obliges. Immediately after the incident, David becomes entrenched in a fit of depression. Inflicted with paranoia that the police are on to them and paranoia that the other flatmates are after the money, he locks himself in the attic with the suitcase full of money, faking an excuse to stay off work. When the gangsters arrive at the flat, they force their way into the loft, but are killed by David, who promptly leads the disposal of the remains next to Hugo's grave.

However, soon after the police, in the form of Detective McCall (Ken Stott) and Detective Mitchell (John Hodge, the writer) visit the residence to interview David, where their suspicion is clear. The fact that the police find the bodies and then interview the flatmates sends David into an outrage, because he warned Alex earlier that the grave wasn't deep enough. By this time, David is convinced that the police know everything, and his outrage intensifies Alex's fear and suspicion of him - all of which results in the total isolation of each individual. All of the money, except for that spent during a short, extravagant, and insanely happy shopping spree, remains untouchable, by reason of either fear or guilt.

As David and Juliet start to leave the flat with the money, without Alex, a confrontation erupts and David pins down Alex by stabbing him in the shoulder. However, Juliet then stabs David in the back of the neck, killing him. After forcing the knife further through Alex's shoulder, pinning him to the floorboards, as he 'can't come with her', Juliet leaves with the suitcase full of money.

Juliet arrives at the airport for her flight to find the case is actually full of newspapers, cut in the shape of money and placed by Alex. She screams in horror. The film then cuts to Alex, still pinned to the floor, with a police photographer taking pictures of him as he smiles. The camera pans down to reveal that the money is hidden directly beneath him, under the floorboards, with his blood dripping onto it.

There has been much discussion as to whether Alex is actually dead in the final scene and his laughter is imagined. However Danny Boyle makes very clear in his commentary on the 2009 Special Edition Blu-Ray/DVD that Alex is not meant to be dead. Boyle stresses that a line of Alex saying hello to the detective was actually added in post-production to hopefully clarify this fact.

Cast

• Kerry Fox as Juliet Miller
• Christopher Eccleston as David Stephens
• Ewan McGregor as Alex Law
• Ken Stott as Detective Inspector McCall
• Keith Allen as Hugo
• Colin McCredie as Cameron
• Victoria Nairn as Visitor
• Gary Lewis as Visitor
• Jean Marie Coffey as Goth
• Peter Mullan as Andy
• Leonard O'Malley as Tim

The film is Ewan McGregor's first major film role, alongside Christopher Eccleston and Kerry Fox. The supporting cast is led by Keith Allen, Peter Mullan, and Ken Stott.

Production

Filming

Shooting for Shallow Grave lasted for thirty days. The tight budgetary restraints during filming meant many of the props had to be auctioned off for them to afford sufficient film stock.

Cinematography

The colour scheme of the flat was influenced by Edward Hopper's painting Hotel Lobby.

Filming locations

The crew shot predominantly at Glasgow rather than Edinburgh, which is where the story is set, since Glasgow film fund gave them a £150,000 grant.

Locations in the film include:

• Flat 6 North East Circus Place, New Town, Edinburgh
• Hospital scenes were filmed at Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, Renfrewshire
• ceilidh scene Townhouse Hotel - 54 West George Street, Glasgow, Strathclyde

Reception

The film received positive reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Shallow Grave has a 'Fresh' rating of 71% based on 42 reviews.^[3] The film grossed a total of $2,834,250 in the USA.^[2]

Soundtrack

Track listing

1. Leftfield – "Shallow Grave" – 4:38
2. Simon Boswell – "Shallow Grave Theme" – 3:30
3. Nina Simone – "My Baby Just Cares for Me" – 3:38
4. Simon Boswell – "Laugh Riot" – 3:02
5. Leftfield – "Release the Dubs" – 5:45
6. John Carmichael Band – "Strip the Willow" – 3:12
7. Simon Boswell – "Loft Conversion" – 5:45
8. Simon Boswell – "A Spade, We Need a Spade" – 2:41
9. Simon Boswell – "Shallow Grave, Deep Depression" – 4:49
10. Simon Boswell – "Hugo's Last Trip" – 5:39
11. Andy Williams – "Happy Heart" – 3:11

References

External links

• Shallow Grave at the Internet Movie Database
• Review at Cult Fiction.