WΔZ 18

By Robbie Collin

YEAH, that’s WΔZ, with a triangle. Not Waz, mind, but W-delta-Z.

A name, you’d be forgiven for thinking, which must have been thought up by a right W-delta-nker.

But in the context of the film, it’s justifiable. Just about.

Because it’s the start of a mathematical equation that describes natural selection, which so happens to be our crazed serial killer du jour’s favourite subject.

Said killer kidnaps and tortures people until they flip a switch, electrocuting a loved one – thereby proving survival instinct trumps love every time.

Saw for adults, essentially. And this ultra-grimy, unrelentingly bleak cop thriller from up-and-coming Brit director Tom Shankland certainly pulls no punches when it comes to the violence.

Standing it in sharp contrast to his last directorial work – that episode of Miss Marple with Kelly Brook in it, that was on telly a couple of years ago.

Art house staple Stellan Skarsgard, with a voice like stones in an oil drum, stars as the cop on the killer’s tail. Melissa George is his deputy and Selma Blair is the baddie.

Grittier than eating a gravel baguette on the beach, in short. But also well shot and tightly-plotted, with a decent and plausible-ish twist at the end.

If you get a kick from junkies electrocuting their own children to save themselves from having their fingernails sheared off with a rusty blade? You should have a look.

And also, seek help.