Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Phil Hoad

Dead Before They Wake review – brutal grooming-gang thriller marries mawkishness and bloodlust

Dead Before They Wake.
Going full Bronson … Dead Before They Wake. Photograph: High Fliers Films

Here is a vigilante thriller co-directed, written by and starring prolific low-budget Scottish film-maker Nathan Shepka, which has a kind of grim integrity despite the uneven acting and numerous rough edges. Seemingly inspired by the Rotherham grooming gang scandal, but transposing the story to Glasgow, Shepka plays laconic nightclub bouncer Alex, who is asked to do a Jack Carter and rescue a teenage girl from sex-trafficking hell.

Not that this takes place in a world where anyone does anything out of innate goodness. The job, and the accompanying 20 grand, are sent his way by a retired lawyer (ex-Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy) who is trying to cover up the fact that the girl’s mother is a heroin addict sleeping with a major politician. But Alex isn’t fundamentally a wrong’un; he visits his deaf father languishing in a care home, and shows worrying outbreaks of tenderness to sex worker Gemma (Grace Cordell) on her regular visits to his caravan.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.