Last weekend, 
goodqueenmolly and I went to see Attack the Block, a movie I’d heard referred to as “Hoodies vs Aliens”. It stars Nick “Simon Pegg’s Mate” Frost and is written/directed by Joe Cornish, who’s of the same comedy generation. This led me to expect that it would be a light-hearted, stereotype-heavy movie in the vein of Hot Fuzz. Instead, it’s something more interesting and better.
Rather than go for the easy laughs, Cornish decides to play it straight – the film opens with a group of five guys in hoodies mugging a woman at knifepoint, which is far more Kidulthood than Shaun of the Dead. This works well when the predators become the prey when the aliens arrive. The most stereotypical, comic relief character is the trustafarian dim-witted posh white stoner, but even he gets to play an important part in the plot. Most of the humour comes from the disparate characters’ reactions to the situation they find themselves thrown together in, and their deadpan, black humour when talking to each other.
The sci-fi elements make enough sense that they provide some motivation to the aliens, and don’t get in the way of the story. The aliens themselves are very well done – neither overblown CGI nor rubber suits, but subtly menacing at a distance, and enough to make you jump once or twice. It’s a reasonable horror film, with a message about taking responsibility for your actions which isn’t hammered too hard, and most importantly no happy ending. It’s still funny, and scary, but it’s a more subtle blend than I was expecting and all the better for it.
(I should disclaim here that my knowledge of London housing estates is minimal at best, so I’m not going to make any claims that the portrayal is in any way “realistic” – just not as obviously stereotypical as I expected)
