Violence

A violent thriller set in an alternative 1980’s that nevertheless doesn’t move too far away from the usual gangster tropes.

A masked robbery goes horribly wrong though disputed drugs are now centre of a war between the drug cartels
Into this comes Henry Violence (Rohan Campbell) a punk low life that after years of drugs and gangs has gone straight edge. The latter a complete anathema to crime boss Jimmy Jazz (Joris Jarsky) who is doing very nicely supplying and hooking punters onto Red. That now includes Henry’s ex Charlotte (Sarah Gray).

To get her out he has to get back into Jimmy’s world. With a reputation that goes before him he’s back in. But his previous counts for nothing with the new crews that have stepped up and Henry quickly realises that this isn’t quite the world he left, its scarier.

Digging deeper into the underground, Henry finds there are people now who share his straight edge philosophy and principles and are committed to bringing down Jimmy.

On the face of it, Violence directed by Connor Marsden, cowritten with Devin Myler and William Woods, tries for a lo-fi approach to achieve the right level of sleaze. The problem is that its so stylised that the grime is almost wiped away. It’s also not that involving and at times attention does wander. But the story just about holds together with the outbursts of violence and torture.

It’s not a character driven piece by any means though there are inserts of Henry and Charlotte in better days that expands them, a bit.

More interesting to ponder is that Charlie (Maddie Hasson) who leads the straight edge attack on Jimmy is almost as bad as he is, driven as she is by her fanaticism.

Violence had its international premiere at FrightFest Glasgow, March 2026.