Plague, The

Stars: David Bonnick Jr, Nur Alam Rahman, Che Grant, Samuel Anoyke

Director: Greg Hall

Not a horror film, despite the (meaningless) title, though it perhaps depends on your definition of horrors. Jobless teens and twentysomethings in a ghetto area of London do drugs and small-time scams on their way to violence or a police cell.

Very PC, with the miscreants a mixed bag of white, black and Asian kids, the film is made in the style of a documentary with naturalistic acting, lots of small talk and overlapping dialogue.

Full of street slang, the story is a little over-reliant on dizzying camerawork, and some of its scenes are too stretched out. But it's also packed with nervous energy and the dialogue (and acting) is refreshingly free from the stilted delivery that mars so many UK 'youf' movies.

This is definitely above-average in that genre. You might tag it as the real East Enders, and director Greg Hall as a talent to watch. Shame that it's been sitting on the shelf for a couple of years, but, as with a lot of current British film product, its target audience is difficult to discern.

David Quinlan

UK 2004. UK Distributor: Wysiwyg Films. Colour.
104 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 18.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 2, Swearing 2.

Review date: 30 Sep 2006