From my memory, to quote the Cineworld magazine, "from acclaimed horror director Johannes Roberts". A British horror set in a school. From IMDB, "A group of teachers must defend themselves from a gang of murderous kids when their school comes under siege after hours."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1486670/

Sounded good to me, especially since I enjoyed 'Tormented' so much, which was also a British horror set in a school.

Where to start? No on-screen violence (Did I mention it's rated '18'). No identities for the 'hoodies' or any real reason why they decided to kill everyone. Not a single likable character. The protagonist is an alcoholic teacher who hits his own 16 year-old daughter! There's no one to root for, I wanted them all to die. It's a disaster.

These 'hoodies', you still can't see any part of their faces even in scenes where there are big fluorescent lights above them! Logic check! They are also supposed to be 'F' grade students taking revenge (although this isn't clear), but they must have 'A' grades in Athletics because they run about on large bookcases in the library, drop from the ceiling at every opportunity, they act like stealth ninjas from start to finish. Realistic? Nope. Not in any way.  

The ending. Well, there isn't one. The few people that had actually stayed in the cinema just muttered "What?". It's all a very confusing and badly put together mess. Avoid.

There's only one British film every so often that I enjoy, and this wasn't that film. Luckily, I went to see 'Tamara Drewe' a few hours later and really enjoyed it when I was expecting a similar disaster, mainly due to Gemma Arterton's lack of acting skills. How wrong can I be?

Quoted from Brian M There's only one British film every so often that I enjoy, and this wasn't that film. Luckily, I went to see 'Tamara Drewe' a few hours later and really enjoyed it when I was expecting a similar disaster, mainly due to Gemma Arterton's lack of acting skills. How wrong can I be?

-- I haven't seen "F" and don't like the look of "Tamara Drewe" (which is not to say I won't watch it, just my impression) but if you haven't already, check out "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" with Arterton, the great Eddie Marsan and Martin Compton. A good, low budget, little thriller with great performances all around.

I hated "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" to be honest, mainly due to Arterton's performance. She got a lot of rave reviews for her part in that film, so I'm probably way off. The girl has the most annoying fake cry EVER, the scene with her talking into the camcorder had me cringing. The constant extreme close ups of her face were annoying and made it look like she has a double chin. It's hard to believe she got is so wrong especially when all she has to do 90% of the film is stay tied to a bed and look scared.

The actual film, I didn't care for. Too many stupid choices. The gunshot would leave a smell in the room, which Marsan would surely have noticed. Things like that which didn't add up.

There's actually a scene in Tamara Drewe when Arterton has to cry, but luckily it only lasted 30 seconds. I don't see why she is getting big parts in Hollywood right now. Why does she use the same posh accent in every movie she does? Alice Creed could have been a much stronger film without her. She was much better in Tamara Drewe, probably because it was less dramatic and has much more comedic moments.

I didn't want to watch Tamara Drewe at all. I was really looking forward to "F", and when it bombed, and since I had the whole day off from work, I decided to give it a try. I was doubting it very early when women were out numbering the men by about 5 to 1 in the cinema, and the opening scene was a bare chested guy with muscles working in a field, I thought it would be some modern day Pride and Prejudice crap with no Keira Knightley. I was wrong. There's a lot of funny lines, and although it's a drama, it's just the consequences of Arterton sleeping around. It's set in a writers retreat, too, which was interesting. Also, it actually has a cool death scene which is more violent than the whole of "F", the 18 rated 'horror'.    

Quoted from Brian M I hated "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" to be honest, mainly due to Arterton's performance. She got a lot of rave reviews for her part in that film, so I'm probably way off. The girl has the most annoying fake cry EVER, the scene with her talking into the camcorder had me cringing. The constant extreme close ups of her face were annoying and made it look like she has a double chin. It's hard to believe she got is so wrong especially when all she has to do 90% of the film is stay tied to a bed and look scared.

-- Cool, to each their own although I wouldn't criticize her for having a double chin, that's just getting personal, man

Quoted from Brian M The actual film, I didn't care for. Too many stupid choices. The gunshot would leave a smell in the room, which Marsan would surely have noticed. Things like that which didn't add up.

-- A fair point but that aside I still reckon it was a decent film for the resources it had at its disposal. I suppose I just have a soft spot for low budget, occasionally flawed filmmaking that is being given the opportunity to be seen by people then getting constantly bombarded by big budget, manipulative commerce film making. Rose tinted glasses and all that.

There's actually a scene in Tamara Drewe when Arterton has to cry, but luckily it only lasted 30 seconds. I don't see why she is getting big parts in Hollywood right now. Why does she use the same posh accent in every movie she does? Alice Creed could have been a much stronger film without her. She was much better in Tamara Drewe, probably because it was less dramatic and has much more comedic moments.

Quoted from Brian M I didn't want to watch Tamara Drewe at all. I was really looking forward to "F", and when it bombed, and since I had the whole day off from work, I decided to give it a try. I was doubting it very early when women were out numbering the men by about 5 to 1 in the cinema, and the opening scene was a bare chested guy with muscles working in a field, I thought it would be some modern day Pride and Prejudice crap with no Keira Knightley. I was wrong. There's a lot of funny lines, and although it's a drama, it's just the consequences of Arterton sleeping around. It's set in a writers retreat, too, which was interesting. Also, it actually has a cool death scene which is more violent than the whole of "F", the 18 rated 'horror'.

-- I might check it out then, she does look rather irritating in the trailer though. And Stephen Frears, while having made some good films, annoys me a bit too with his slightly smug, middle class sensibilities and pompous accent...now who's getting personal!

Haha, you're right, maybe that is a little personal. I just don't understand, I read she had a meeting with Ridley Scott for the new Alien prequels based on her performance in Alice Creed. Maybe I'm missing something.

I like low budget films, too. There's a thread on these boards about netflix movies or something like that, there's a lot of low budget gems there that are streets ahead of Alice Creed. I read one of the (very few) negative reviews for it recently, and agreed with almost everything it said. You could see every twist 10 minutes before it happened. Maybe I was just having a bad week when I saw it, I'll need to rent the DVD and watch again sometime.  

I really wanted to like Alice Creed, it was only on limited release at my cinema, and I went out of my way to go and see it before it left. Maybe that was the problem. I expected too much for that and I didn't expect anything from Tamara Drewe.

Cliche choked 75 minute slogfest inundated with idiotic cardboard characters.
Every scene and beat is padded to the max for additional insipidness.
Every edit feels two beats too long, plenty of time to do laundry.
A shoe in nomination for cheesiest theme music of the decade.
Faceless villains that pop into frame at will for the cheapest of forced thrills.
Cap it off with a turd of an ending, cuz we all love heroes that leave their wives for dead.

I wonder how many reviewers used this headline... "F gets an F."

E.D.

Ha!

Don't hold back E.D. Tell us what you really think.

That bad huh?

Shawn.....><