Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Nigel P This is a hidden gem of a production directed by Dominic Brunt, who in his 'day job' plays Paddy in missable UK soap opera 'Emmerdale'. He has directed a number of horror films, and this one concerns two brassy market stall girls and what happens when they are blackmailed.To begin with, this runs as a convincingly comedic venture with Bex (Victoria Smurfit) and Dawn (Joanne Mitchell) trying to keep their market stall afloat whilst fending off coarse but pretty hilarious amorous advances of low life customers (including eccentric oddball comedian Charlie Chuck as Nev). They also need to escape the extortion racket carried out by local villain Si (Adam Fogerty). Jeremy (Jonathan Slinger), a smiling charmer enters their lives and appears to have the answer to their problems.Events twist and the reveals are rarely less than disastrous for the two leads. It seems extreme measures are needed.The comedy just manages to stay the right side of reality – Bex and Dawn are necessarily sharp-talkers, living in an area crawling with men who simply want them for one thing. They have become 'master of the put-down', and they are extremely witty. When events become darker, and their families (including Dawn's autistic son and eccentric mother played by Rula Lenska) are threatened, it is impossible not to wish Si and his blackmail racket a bloody, gory destruction. Whether or not that happens, is not for me to say – but there's an animated sequence following the end credits that is not to be missed.Great fun.

Michael Ledo Bex (Victoria Smurfit) and Dawn (Joanne Mitchell) operate an organic tea stand inside a mall. They want to get their own place but need a loan. Jeremy (Jonathan Slinger) is a nice loan shark and Si (Adam Fogerty) is his strong arm collector. His victims tend to be women and old people.We see a lot of violence throughout the film, so they can thoroughly build the character of a guy who beats people up....don't make me hurt the puppy. If you have ever watched a film before, you have a general idea where this goes.Guide: F-bomb. No sex. Some nudity. Victoria Smurfit black bra/panties

iandaddio This film had the potential to be a gritty realism movie about lone sharking. But the end product is an overly long overly emotionalised meandering pastiche of This is England and Eden Lake with a bit of Essex Boys thrown in for good measure.And that for me is this film's problem, it starts off as a well constructed idea which then over plays it's hand. With less of the character building and emotional narrative supposed anchors; the autistic son is an irrelevant attempt at emotionally blackmailing the audience that fails.The only worthy piece of acting comes from Jonathan Slinger, whose Mr Nice Guy act is genuinely believable; as is his sadistic alter ego.The two female leads are so over developed in the start of the movie that they quickly become self parodies, more so in case of the supposed street wise and sassy Bex.This means that the well constructed start rapidly becomes directionless and erratic in both plot progression and plot cohesion. However, the saving grace is the sheer brutality of the closing scenes. Although gratuitous, the violence is held within context of story and ability of protagonists.Overall a nice try hence the seven stars

CorneliusPavo As a Calderdale resident, I went to see this film with some anticipation. However, I was sadly disappointed. It aims to be a thriller, but it is really a thinly disguised zombie horror film with lashings of fake blood and gore. The story is preposterous...a loan shark (aided by strongarm hulk) is terrorising shopkeepers/stallowners in a small town using extreme violence and demanding absurdly high repayments (even on loans that haven't been accepted)..whilst all the victims are too terrified to go to the Police. The violence is graphic yet cartoonish..appalling injuries are sustained, yet the characters appear in the next scene as if barely touched. The two central 'strong' female characters are an absurdly glamorous pair (neither of whom has a local accent).The underlying political message seems to be 'women are strong'..this seems to require that ALL the men in the film are either weak, leering sex pests, 'dickheads' or thuggish psychos. As for its portrayal of autism, this is unbelievably insensitive and stereotyped. Victoria Smurfit and Jonathan Singer turn in very convincing performances, but, some sharp witty dialogue aside, the film is spoiled by its uneven tone, veering from gritty social realism to black comedy and then running through clichéd horror/zombie tropes...a villain who refuses to die, bodies in the boots of cars, blood gushing from skulls (The title The Taking = a nod to The Shining?). Disappointing. Could have been so much better with a more realistic storyline and characters and a slow build-up of suspense.