Cherry Tree Lane

An improvement on his lamentable comedy-horror hybrid ‘The Cottage’ but lacking the violent gusto of his debut ‘London to Brighton’, Paul Andrew Williams’s claustrophobic third feature deals in the queasy minutiae of a suburban home invasion. It’s basically a Zone Two ‘Straw Dogs’, pitting unscrupulous hoodies against the affluent, M&S diner à deux set. The film opens on a blunt metaphor – a boiling pan of broccoli – before detailing how an average middle-aged, middle-class couple (Tom Butcher and Rachael Blake) have their enjoyment of said broccoli ruined by tooled-up youths who barge into the house, tie them up and threaten them with violence. The kids have no rational motives and the film perpetuates patronising myths about the savagery of delinquents, attempting to justify their actions by having them spout buzz words: ‘Drugs!’ ‘Alcohol!’ ‘Abuse!’ ‘Poverty!’ The acting is decidedly ropey, the dialogue is repetitive and the provocative (though expertly mounted) ‘open’ ending gives the impression of being deeper than it actually is.