Extreme onscreen violence doesn't turn a good film into a bad film. But if it portrays sadism, gore or anything related to ultra violence, there has to be firm reasoning behind it. Martyrs, Mum & Dad, Eden Lake have all justified themselves in my books as films who have used shocking levels of nastiness but kept quality on their side. Straightheads doesn't. It doesn't even really have a point to it. Posh city worker Gillian Anderson and her unlikely lover Danny Dyer are attacked by a group of middle aged men on a deserted road. She is raped and he is blinded in one eye. The two of them recuperate in her stylish flat. But, as a month passes, Anderson's character realises she wants more than a slow but steady recovery. She wants revenge.

There are three major problems with the film. Firstly, there's the absence of any police. It is hinted at that their investigation isn't going anywhere, and that the two victims didn't inform them that there was a sexual aspect to the attack, but never once do we see anyone to do with the law. This seems a little odd, but it becomes clear that police questioning would hamper director Dan Reed a little too much - it seems he wants to get straight to the gruesome revenge. The second big problem is the violence itself. This film is a perfect example of violence for the sake of violence. The brutal acts at the start of the film only serve as a lead up to further, nauseating scenes of sickening sadism. This is where Dan Reed looses my respect completely. The third problem is, of course, Danny Dyer, an actor who always lives up to his last name and rarely convinces in any role he inhabits. Here he is particularly awful as Gillian Anderson's bit-of-rough, and with his laughably bad delivery technique and lack of any awareness for subtlety, he single-handedly drags this film into the realms of lunacy. Goodness knows why he was cast in the role, and it's made worse by Gillian Anderson, who eclipses him in every scene.


Anderson is an actress I respect, so I'm more forgiving on her part. She makes the best out of a preposterous character, but even someone of her talent would find it hard to rape a man repeatedly with a gun and look as if they're enjoying it. Setting aside the fact that the anal-gun-rape scene is nicked from French shocker Baise-Moi, the scene is so inexplicably ridiculous you don't know whether to laugh with disbelief or turn the film off in disgust. This movie goes to depths unexplored even by the likes of Transformers 2. And believe me - that's something very hard to do.