Slayground (1983)
Impressive British crime thriller bordering on slasher movie in which a car full of thieves crashes into a second car killing the daughter of a wealthy businessman who hires a hitman to get revenge on the robbers (Led by Peter Coyote).
When Coyote realises he's the target of the final hit he flees to north west England and holes up with former accomplice Mel Smith but the hitman who enjoys taunting his victims follows him.
How many crime films begin in New York and end up in Blackpool and Southport? Not too many i'd guess but that's one of the many impressive things about this fast paced thriller. Each time the hitman appears, hidden in the shadows wearing his wide brimmed hat it feels like a slasher movie as the killer cackles and mocks the men as he stalks them round various giallo-esq settings culminating in a showdown with Coyote at a dilapidated Southport show ground.
There's a genuine grimness to the second half of the film, it isn't the sunny seaside Britain you'd see in picture postcards, it's a decaying, forgotten by subsequent governments view of the north west, grey in look, even more so in atmosphere. Although none of the kills happen on camera we always see the aftermath and it's pretty brutal stuff at times and also suggest the FX budget may have been as underfunded as the coastal towns Coyote and the film retreats to.
Slayground is a really enjoyable genre straddling thriller. Although the Network dvd is now out of print it's a film owned by StudioCanal so it would be rather nice if they could give it some HD love and affection even though this dvd looked good anyway.
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