SummaryThree roommates believe they've found the perfect fourth person to share their home. But almost immediately after moving in they find him dead in his bedroom from a massive drug overdose. Even stranger, they find a suitcase full of money under his bed. They are faced with the moral dilemma of whether to call the police and turn in the cash or dis... Read More
Directed By:Danny Boyle
Written By:John Hodge
Shallow Grave
Metascore
Generally Favorable
69
User score
Generally Favorable
7.2
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
67% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
33% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
Shallow Grave is persistently cynical and uningratiating, a tale of nasty, greedy, stupid people who don’t realise that the finders-keepers rule doesn’t apply to a suitcase full of cash whose criminal owners will not merely want it back but want to create the specific circumstances in which Juliet, David and Alex will be unable to testify against them in a court of law.
90
Shallow Grave, a tar-black comedy that zings along on a wave of visual and scripting inventiveness.
User score
Generally Favorable
73% Positive
54 Ratings
54 Ratings
20% Mixed
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
7% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
Jul 14, 2014
10
Shallow Grave is a very well shot and acted movie from British director Danny Boyle. The cast is great with Ewen Mcgregor from Trainspotting. The plot is very clever and the movie has a nice **** feel to it. The story is unpredictable and it will become one of your favourite movies.
78
Boyle, MacDonald, and Hodge honed this wonderful coupling of music, visuals, and clever words, as well as a strange affection for toy babies, in their first film.
75
Taken as a whole, Shallow Grave is a reasonably enjoyable (for those captivated by this sort of thing) black comedy/noir thriller that justifies at least a portion of the praise being heaped upon it from overseas.
63
Smart and unsentimental as it is, Shallow Grave is more than a little forbidding.
50
This is exactly the kind of weird, sardonic texture the movie is aiming for - and unfortunately, most of it occurs in the first half of the story.
50
All of the materials are in place for a film that might have pleased Orwell. But somehow they never come together.
Apr 30, 2011
10
A slick, clever, well shot thriller. Almost everything about this film works, and works well. Danny Boyle, trÃs bien! The great sweeping shot that reveals just who was the quickest, is pure genius. Just great
Jun 22, 2025
9
Still a decent film that has managed to defy the years. Some excellent acting, in particular from Ecclestone. A good story, although there are holes in the plot. All in all, I'd watch it again.
Oct 31, 2016
6
WHAT I LIKED: The entirety of 'Shallow Grave' drives for the darkest possible humour, and rather surprisingly it often lands. This is particularly the case in the slightly-more-subtle first half where great performances from this stellar crew shine through far more strongly. WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Unfortunately you're left thinking things have gone a bit too far as it goes on because everything spirals out of control, even though very little actually occurs to get you invested. By the end the plot and humour is so off track that it struggles to make any sort of narrative sense at all. Payoff? A disappointing ending with a weak thematic through-line to match. VERDICT: There's no doubt Boyle is an able film-maker, but his efforts here are by no means his best. Shallow Grave largely dissapoints.
May 16, 2013
6
It's nothing that hasn't been seen before. Friends are torn apart by greed after their flatmate dies and leaves a mysterious suitcase of money behind. What makes this film worth checking out is Danny Boyle's darkly comic approach to the material and Ewan McGregor's devilishly fun performance.
Apr 29, 2013
5
This movie goes on and on and on, and even if it is funny or very entertained sometimes, it just wasn't that good. Also is one of Danny Boyle's worst and i wanted more of this, a lot more of this
Production Company:
- Channel Four Films
- The Glasgow Film Fund
- Figment Films
Release Date:Feb 10, 1995
Duration:1 h 29 m
Rating:R
Tagline:The award winning thriller that'll bury you with laughs.
Awards
Empire Awards, UK
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
Angers European First Film Festival
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
Cognac Festival du Film Policier
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
