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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 26 April 2007

Thomas Turgoose as 13-year-old Sean

Psycho chiller packs a volcanic punch

THIS IS ENGLAND
Directed by Shane Meadows
Certificate 18

THIS is England will probably make its mark for the most frightening portrayal of a psychopath you’ll see this year.
Little-known actor Stephen Graham, his head shaven, a cross tattooed between his eyebrows, muscles bulging, creates a character far more disturbing than Anthony Perkins in Psycho or even Hannibal Lecter. It is an image that will haunt you for days.
The year is 1983. Graham plays a character called Combo, fresh out of prison, a swaggering lout who returns to his roots in a north of England seaside town and takes control of a local gang of yobs, fashioning them into National Front fodder.
The story is seen through the eyes of young Shaun (an amazing performance by newcomer Thomas Turgoose, aged 13), who is still haunted by the ghost of his father who died for his country in the Falklands.
The kid is drawn into the gang of drop-outs, coming under the spell of Combo and his mantra: “Our country has been stolen from under our noses…”
Eventually the boy breaks away from the leash to become a free spirit – but it’s a hard journey.
The chill factor in Graham’s riveting performance comes from the way he shifts from smiling father-figure to a raving psychotic in seconds, completely out of control as he beats victims to a pulp on someone’s living-room carpet.
His eyes grow hard as pebbles, his mouth twitches – ever so slightly. There’s a volcano about to erupt, and no one who witnesses it will be the same afterwards.

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