Line #14 Film/ShallowGrave


1	[[quoteright:283:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shallowgrave.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:283:L-R: [[Franchise/StarWars Obi-Wan Kenobi]], some chick and [[Series/DoctorWho The Ninth Doctor]].]]
3
4	''Shallow Grave'' (1994) is a British crime {{thriller}} {{film}} and BlackComedy starring Creator/EwanMcGregor in his first major film role, alongside Creator/ChristopherEccleston and Kerry Fox. Creator/DannyBoyle's directorial debut, the movie follows three friends who share a flat in Edinburgh. When their new flatmate, Hugo, dies suddenly of a drug overdose, they discover that [[BriefcaseFullOfMoney the suitcase he brought contained a very large amount of cash]]. They decide to keep the money, disposing of the late Hugo in a [[TitleDrop shallow grave]], and all seems well, until some of Hugo's associates come looking for him...
5	----
6	!! ''Shallow Grave'' contains examples of:
7	* ArmorPiercingResponse: The one David delivers to Alex over dinner is so literally stomach churning that nobody can finish their meal.
8	--> '''Alex:''' ''(referring to the case full of money they have procured from the late Hugo)'' If you can't have it – spend it – then what use is it? None. It's all for nothing. I didn't get into this for nothing, so that I could have nothing.
9	--> '''David:''' Yeah, and you didn't have to saw his feet off.
10	* ArtImitatesArt: The color scheme for the flat was based on Creator/EdwardHopper's painting ''Hotel Lobby''.
11	%%* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler:David]] of course, and also [[spoiler:Cameron]].
12	* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Alex, barring getting stabbed, gets away with the money, seemingly scot-free.]]
13	* BlackComedy: The film starts off as a dramedy about three roommates who put out a classified ad for a fourth person to fill in an empty spot in their flat. They heckle most of the applicants, until finding Hugo, whom they all agree would make a fine roommate. Or so they think… Turns out, he's a criminal who has murdered before; and shortly after he moves in, the three find him dead in his room by drug overdose with a large briefcase full of cash lying next to him. They decide not to report the crime, dismember the body, and keep the money for themselves. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity (and psychopathy) ensue.]]
14	* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Hugo has a suitcase full of money that serves as the {{MacGuffin}} for the film though the exact amount is never revealed.
15	%%* CatapultNightmare: Alex has one near the end of the film.
16	* CharacterDevelopment: Alex starts as a {{Jerkass}}, Juliet is somewhere around TeamMom and David is male version of ShrinkingViolet. Where they end as, however…
17	%%* CharityBall: Cameron is mocked at one.
18	* ChekhovsGun: The bundle of newspapers with "Triple Corpse Horror" on the headline, with the front page story written by Alex.
19	* CityWithNoName: The film is set in an unnamed Scottish city. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow were used for exterior shots.
20	* ColdBloodedTorture: With emphasis on the "Cold" part. When trying to track down Hugo, the criminals drown one of his associates in a bathtub full of bloody water, then locks another in a freezer while trying to get information on his whereabouts from them. When they [[spoiler:finally locate the flat where Hugo spent his final moments, they introduce themselves to Alex by smashing both his shins with a crowbar.]]
21	* ContinuityNod: Implied in an audio commentary for Danny Boyle's second film ''Literature/{{Trainspotting}}''. Keith Allen, who played Hugo, played a dealer who received a suitcase filled with money by the main characters in ''Trainspotting'', which suggests that that dealer ''was'' Hugo.
22	* CreatorCameo: Writer John Hodge appears in the role of Detective Constable Mitchell, whose main duty appears to be writing: "Make a note of that, Mitchell… Write it down."
23	* CreepyDoll: The crawling baby doll which Alex and Juliet mount the camcorder on.
24	* CrowbarCombatant: Andy, one of the two hitmen looking for Hugo, likes to use a crowbar to beat information out his victims.
25	* DeadpanSnarker: Alex definitely seems to be having more fun than David or Juliet. Then again, he is played by Creator/EwanMcGregor so it was pretty much inevitable that he'd be this.
26	** Inspector [=McCall=] is like this as part of his trade; it throws everyone off balance and leaves them at his mercy.
27	%%* DealWithTheDevil: While not a literal example, the plot has been described thus.
28	* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Both Hugo and David. Hugo's eyes are seen staring back at David as he's about to smash his face in. When David is later stabbed, his eyes remain open even as he is taken to the mortuary.]]
29	* DismemberingTheBody: David draws the short straw and is tasked with dismembering Hugo's body in order to conceal his death and allow the three flatmates to keep his money.
30	* DiscOneFinalBoss: The criminals who spend the first half of the film tracking down the money are disposed of with frightening ease by the film's most truly dangerous character around the halfway mark.
31	%%* DownerEnding: Money destroys even the closest of friendships.
32	* DrawingStraws: Alex, Juliet, and David do this to decide who shall dismember Hugo's body. This turns out to be possibly the worst idea Alex ever had.
33	%%* DrugsAreBad: Naturally.
34	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The trio tormenting candidates for potential roommates and laughing sadistically once out the door and out of earshot collectively establishes how unlikable they are.
35	* EveryoneHasStandards: David has no qualms about [[spoiler:cutting people up (after the first instance)]], but he can't bring himself to watch Juliet undress.
36	* FacialHorror: David has removed Hugo's hands and feet. But the dental records need to be removed. Up comes the hammer, then down again, off-screen.
37	* FanDisservice: No one needed to see Keith Allen's dead, pasty, corpulent nudity.
38	%%* FanService: See ModestyTowel.
39	%%* FourEyesZeroSoul: David, the further he slips into madness.
40	* FreakOut: Mild-mannered David completely loses it after being coerced into dismembering Hugo's corpse and rendering his face unrecognizable with a hammer.
41	* FreudianTrio:
42	** Id: Alex.
43	** Superego: David.
44	** Ego: Juliet.
45	* GoldDigger: Juliet decides to try and get back on David's good side by sleeping with him. This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Alex: "I'd try the same thing, only I'm not his type".
46	* GoldFever: A suitcase full of cash turns the trio into cold blooded murderers.
47	* HappyFlashback: The film ends with ''Happy Heart'' by Andy Williams rolling over a repeated sequence of the three flatmates earlier in the movie, laughing and hugging. [[TearJerker Wham]].
48	* HeelRealization: Alex has an {{implied}} one [[spoiler:when he's assigned to cover the discovery of the bodies by his paper, and hears his fellow reporters' horrified reaction to the grisly details provided by the officer]].
49	* HintDropping: When David tries to escape with the suitcase full of money, Alex suggests to Juliet that they should "let him take it all". This leaves her to discover far too late that [[spoiler:Alex has replaced the cash with newspaper]].
50	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Alex]] gets nailed to the floor with a knife through his shoulder, but apparently survives.
51	* InformedAbility: Alex is smarter than everyone and Mitchell, the younger inspector, is a rising star. [[spoiler:The first one is proven to be true in the end]].
52	* {{Jerkass}}: Alex, at least to begin with. Though none of the three could be considered particularly likeable, even before the money is found.
53	* KickTheDog: Used by all three of the characters to some extent, but David takes the [[IncrediblyLamePun dog biscuit]].
54	* LockedInAFreezer: The two men looking for Hugo use this as an interrogation tactic on someone whom they suspect knows his whereabouts.
55	* LoveLetterLunacy: Juliet's love-letters, which were [[SarcasmMode definitely not]] written by Alex:
56	--> "Aroused and inflamed?! He even signs them in his own name, can you believe it? I'd sign someone else's name… I'd sign his name!… If I wrote them that is, which I don't."
57	* AMacGuffinFullOfMoney: The suitcase full of cash. The plot involves the main trio trying to keep said money.
58	* ModestyTowel: In one scene, Juliet wears a towel around her waist, rather defeating the purpose.
59	* MysteriousPast: It's never explained exactly where Hugo got the money from, how the two criminals are related to him, and exactly what criminal enterprises he is involved in (other than murdering a man at a cashpoint). Although an audio feature in ''Trainspotting'' suggests he is a drug dealer, this is circumspect, and particularly for people who saw the film when it first came out, the mystery was particularly glaring, since ''Trainspotting'' would not come out for another two years.
60	* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[spoiler:Alex]] uses this to great effect.
61	* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: [[spoiler:When the three corpses are discovered, a constable graphically details what information is necessary to the press… including Alex, who was sent by his paper to cover the story.]]
62	* OhCrap: Andy, who has spent the film gleefully beating and torturing Hugo's location out of people (and violently mugged a complete stranger at a cash machine), is reduced to frozen terror [[spoiler:while trying to turn the light on in the loft… [[BewareTheNiceOnes with good reason.]]]]
63	* OldCopYoungCop: Detective Inspector [=McCall=] and Detective Constable Mitchell, whose main duty appears to be writing the interview notes for his senior partner: "Make a note of that, Mitchell… Write it down."
64	* OneBookAuthor: The part of the man being drowned required a "really good" swimmer. As a result, this was Glen Glendinning’s only acting job.
65	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Christopher Eccleston's Scottish accent is passable, but still cracks from time to time.
66	* PlotTriggeringDeath: The story kicks off when Hugo is found dead of an overdose. The trio's problems ''really'' start once they've disposed of his corpse.
67	* PosthumousNarration: [[spoiler:The film is narrated by David, the only one of the three main characters to die in the film]].
68	* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler:Since David had the BriefcaseFullOfMoney with him at all times, when did Alex switch it out for the newspapers?]]
69	** It's made quite clear he does it on the night that Juliet and David are in bed together. At that point David doesn't have the briefcase with him, since he thinks Alex doesn't know it has been submerged in the water tank.
70	* SanitySlippage: David's is set off when he must dismember Hugo's corpse, and it worsens as the film progresses.
71	** Alex and Juliet undergo a {{downplayed}} case of this as greed-fueled paranoia and distrust get the better of them. They still hold things together much better than David, though.
72	* SecretTestOfCharacter: [[spoiler:Alex]] pulled one on [[spoiler:Juliet]] when he's HintDropping. He didn't say a single word [[spoiler:while being pinned to the floor with a knife ''in his shoulder''.]]
73	* ShoutOut: According to the commentary, David's look was inspired by Creator/DavidCronenberg.
74	* ASimplePlan: ZigZagged. The plan itself goes smooth and our trio is relatively safe even during police investigation. It's their mounting paranoia that starts to complicate things.
75	* SkilledButNaive: The trio when they meet Hugo. They have no problems mocking and humiliating other potential flatmates, but are unable to bother Hugo in the slightest. This is most obvious when David tries to needle Hugo by asking him if he has ever killed someone: Hugo has a flashback to a murder he committed, but calmly denies it. The flatmates are completely unused to someone running rings around them, and don't pick up on the warning signs around him.
76	%%* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: David.
77	* SmarterThanYouLook: [[spoiler:Alex]]. "As smart as you are you're going to need some help".
78	* SoundtrackDissonance: Andy Williams doesn't exactly gel with the ending.
79	* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: [[OldCopYoungCop Inspector McCall and Constable Mitchell]] are tasked to investigate the mystery surrounding the shady dealings and disappearance of Hugo. [=McCall=], in particular, deduces that the trio know more than they let on and is suspicious of them throughout.
80	* TerribleIntervieweesMontage: {{Inverted}} when the three roommates interview potential lodgers. The interviewees are regular people, while the roommates take the opportunity to grill them with sadistic and bizarre questions and make them uncomfortable for no reason other than their own amusement. [[Series/AmericanIdol Simon Cowell]] could have been taking notes.
81	* ThisIsADrill: David threatens Alex with one, leaving a small bloody dot on his forehead.
82	* TookALevelInBadass: David starts the film as a terribly meek and bookish accountant, until he's forced to chop up Hugo (see FreakOut above). He soon starts threatening strangers with violence, kills two murderous thugs who are looking for Hugo and tries to kill Alex.
83	* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:While WordOfGod confirms that Alex is still alive, getting impaled/pinned to the floor isn't exactly a rosy picture either since there's little way for the cops/medical personnel to get him off the floor without him bleeding to death.]]
84	* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: All three of them.
85	* VillainousBreakdown: After discovering too late that [[spoiler:the case she thinks contains the money only has shredded newspapers]], Juliet is seen absolutely freaking out in her car before staggering through an airport check-in with a look of dead-eyed blank despair on her face.
86	* VisibleBoomMic: There's a boom mic reflected in the car window when Alex pushes Hugo's car into the lake.
87	* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The opening voiceover states that "this could have been any city," though wherever it is, it's apparently in Scotland. WordOfGod says it is set in Edinburgh. Though quite a bit of it was filmed in Glasgow.
88	%%* WithFriendsLikeThese:
89	* WouldntHitAGirl: [[spoiler:{{Averted}} by David when he punches Juliet; PlayedStraight by Alex when he attacks David, yelling that he shouldn't have hit her.]]
90	* YouDidntAsk: {{Inverted}}. Unlike their previous victims, Alex instantly told where the money is to the two thugs. The one beating him with a crowbar is somewhat shocked (if not ''disappointed''), because he didn't even start asking questions and got the answer.

Context Film / ShallowGrave