Movie Review: A Day of Violence (2010)

So many films attempt to push the envelope on sex and violence. I find in much of my viewing it's movies from Asia (Japan and Korea especially) that either toe the line or march right over it. There haven’t been too many British films to come across our desks that made us cringe like the offerings from those countries... that is, until now with Darren Ward’s unrelentingly brutal crime flick A Day of Violence.

Mitchell (Nick Rendell), our “hero”, is a low-end criminal who makes his living beating and murdering anyone stupid enough to not cough up the dough they owe to him and his gang. One day during a routine collection Mitchell splits open the cushions of a creep played by the legendary Giovanni Lombardo Radice (Cannibal Ferox, City of the Living Dead) and discovers 100,000 in cash. Of course he takes the loot and runs off. Unbeknownst to Mitchell there’s some evidence he’s the culprit – thanks to a camera phone.



It’s not long before the bosses find out about his theft and they are fucking livid. Now Mitchell is on the run from the goons. During all this fun there is a tremendous amount of bloodshed. People don’t just die; they die horribly and ooh so painfully. A Day of Violence is without a doubt one the most vicious and violent movies to come out of the UK years. There’s arterial spray galore, nasty scenes of torture and a castration that’s right up there with a certain Radice film from the early 80’s involving cannibals.

The script is pretty simple and straight forward. One thing I do like about the narrative is that it begins with Mitchell on a gurney in a mortuary with a bullet hole wider than Snooki’s twat. No spoiler here, you know right there what’s going to happen to him by the end of the film but you still want to find out what got him there.

If you have a weak stomach, stay the hell away from A Day of Violence. Writer/ Director Ward is working on his second feature, Beyond Fury, and I have to say I’m really looking forward to that. For now though, enjoy this bad boy. Highly Recommended.