
Not that it neneds controversy or cheap promotion to garner attention. A mish-mash of British irreverence, science fiction-horror tropes, and anarchic attitude give it a visceral punch, it walks a fine line between camp and horror.
It hits the ground running and maintains its breakneck pace throughout, first introducing us to a young nurse named Sam (Jodie Whittaker) who is mugged by a group of teenage thugs while on her way home. The gang, led by stone-faced tough Moses (John Boyega, a skilled young actor giving an impressive slow-burn performance), are interrupted by an extra-terrestrial arrival, and are forced to hand a beat-down to an ugly critter that has literally dropped out of the sky and landed in the middle of their housing project.
The creature is actually the first of a swarm of fierce gorilla-like ogres with inky-black fur and gaping maws of glow-in-the-dark teeth that would make a piranha envious that crash-land in a meteor shower and begin wreaking havoc. For reasons made clear in the final reel, the monsters converge on the group’s council house and they — along with Sam, pot dealer Ron (Shaun of the Dead‘s Nick Frost), and others — are forced to defend their lives and their turf with street smarts, improvised weapons, and mopeds.
First-time director Joe Cornish is an apparent fan of ’70s-’80s action-horror auteur John Carpenter and that era’s creature features, and patterns his film along the same lines. It’s equal parts Assault on Precinct 13 and Critters, with perhaps a little Warriors thrown in. Cornish keeps the story brisk, and sidesteps cliche in favor of characterization — and that’s where Attack the Block finds its gritty edge: Its hoodie-wearing hooligan protagonists are designed to be believable rather than easily likable, rendering them as true anti-heroes.