K-Shop, 2016.
Directed by Dan Pringle.
Starring: Ziad Abaza, Reece Noi, Scot Williams and Ewen MacIntosh.
SYNOPSIS:
Student Salah loses his father after an altercation with a gang of drunken customers. Overcome with grief, the pressure of his studies and his father’s failing business, Salah, in a modern Sweeney Todd tale, wages war against the drunks that litter his streets.
Writer and director Dan Pringle’s first feature length film, K-Shop, is a thoroughly interesting and comic look at the frightening and realistic state of binge drinking in Britain. K-Shop, offers a distinct blood-tingling insight into the dark side of club culture and much like Rob Hackett’s short, Boris in the Forest, utilises the same narrative framework of Sweeney Todd, minus its musicality.
Pringle himself has tagged his film a contemporary ‘Sweeney Todd thriller’, and much like Sweeney Todd, K-Shop, could well become equally as well known. Filmed in the same vein as other British cult film classics, Severance and Dog Soldiers, Pringle’s film employs a unique blend of humour and violence to create an unsettling thriller that keeps you glued to your seat. Other than the tone of the film, what also keeps you glued to your seat is the pace at which Pringle’s film moves. Its plot and narrative accelerates evermore increasingly, and although this works for the comedic timing of the film, it also skips over pivotal sections of the film that deserved more screen time. One of K-Shop’s biggest flaws is that its plot point fails to establish the believable motivation for its protagonist’s actions. When Salah’s father does die, the film doesn’t give enough time for the audience to process Salah’s emotions or reactions, which makes everything that follows slightly less realistic.
That said K-Shop is filmed with a staggering amount of realism for a thriller/horror. The prosthetic makeup used is by far one of its most laudable qualities. It gives the film realism beyond anything else, and grounds Pringle’s film perfectly, even in its most eccentric moments. What remains the most interesting thing about Pringle’s film is how its most terrifying moments aren’t its most gruesome. Pringle instead creates his horror from authentic everyday situations, extracting and playing upon the sinister ambiance that comes from viewing a Friday night out from a different perspective. The violence and behaviour of those that finish their drunken stupor in a kebab shop is a sobering truth all of us have either seen or experienced. These scenes rather than being overtly dramatic, play into Pringle’s horror by being represented honestly, which gives the whole idea of a stag party a threatening and violent feel.
Many of the street and club montages are accompanied with excellent music choices from the director that reflect the fast pace of the film itself and further draw the audience into the chaos that Salah finds himself surrounded by. The acting of both the protagonist and antagonist is commendable. Scot Williams’ character Jason Brown and Ziad Abaza’s character Salah, both offer unique performances that grant their characters their own distinct mannerisms that convince us further of their motives. Ziad becomes both sides of his character; encompassing the side of Salah who is scared, quiet and timid and also playing up to Salah’s other side that comes out when he feels that he is in control. Ziad gives this side of Salah a Tom Hiddleston confidence straight out of The Avengers that replicates not only his strong eloquent voice, but also his long ideological rants. Scot Williams’ plays into the stereotypical narcissistic villain, Jason Brown, an ex-Big Brother contestant who sets out to establish super clubs around Britain as a means to pedal narcotics and meet young girls. He grants his character a convincingly sleazy and immoral performance that convinces us that he deserves to be punished.
Overall, K-Shop isn’t exactly food for thought. It doesn’t leave you questioning what you know, but it does exactly what it intends to do. It entertains its viewers with admirable performances, a stylistic approach and an engaging and comic story line. It breathes a new life into the demon barber of Fleet Street, implanting the same horrific tale into a more familiar contemporary setting that draws upon situations we’ve seen before, which makes K-Shop even more thrilling.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
K-Shop is out in UK cinemas on July 22nd.
Joshua Gill
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published May 19, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
