Bleak and believable crime-family-drama that also sports some pitch black humor at times. While the characters are all terrible people they are fascinating to watch. The sense of realism about the whole thing makes the violence, when it comes, pretty uncomfortable. Maybe becomes a bit repetitive towards the end, but all in all this was a pretty engaging film with a stellar cast and a spot-on atmosphere.

A kind of blackly comic counterpoint to Animal Kingdom, this has a terrifyingly unpredictable brutality in the most domestic of settings. The cast give great naturalistic performances, the camerawork is excellent and the filmmaking elevates it above just a genre exercise. Lovely soundtrack too.

It's really good, this one. Wikipedia wants me to think it's a crime film but I remember seeing a brilliant mix of family drama and black comedy. It ranges from drama and suspense we saw in 'The Sopranos' to brutal comedy we enjoyed in 'Man Bites Dog'. I also absolutely adored the soundtrack

"Ben Wheatley's Down Terrace follows up a strong first half with a rather less productive second act." - Andrew Schenker

Comparisons to The Sopranos are inevitable and absolutely apt, but the film is far from unoriginal or predictable. Plenty of witty back-and-forth and lots of violence, with mostly unlikable characters that nonetheless usually don't deserve what they get. This is about as black as black comedy gets. The mise-en-scene is stylish and engaging, and I was shocked to learn it was shot in only eight days.