Day of the Sirens (2002)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Ray Brady

Writer:

Ray Brady (writer)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

'Traffic' meets 'A Short Film About Killing'

Plot:

A serial killer goes out in a blaze of terror on a summer's day in London |

Cast

Saeed Jaffrey	...	Albert Page
Rik Mayall	...	Domo Childs
Galit Hershkovitz	...	Lisa Shaw
Tom Adams	...	Chat Show Host
Michael Chomiak	...	Geoff Barnes
Des Brady	...	Siren Killer (as Des Backhouse-Brady)
Shivani Ghai	...	Amanda Barnes
Carmine Canuso	...	Angel
John Moraitis	...	American Diplomat
Andrew Wright	...	Det Smith
Vaya Seekis	...	Det Curtis
Barry Lee-Thomas	...	Rupert Winden
Chantal Brown	...	Beautiful young woman
Dan Clark	...	Walkie Talkie
Nina Thilas Mohs	...	Sybil Wainwright-Booth

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Imaginary Films 2000 Ltd.

Day of the Sirens is phenomenally written, directed and performed

After loving the director's previous movie Love Life I was excited to catch his latest, shot on a micro-budget this British drama is incredible. I'll limit my comments about this film to opinions rather than a critical review, as there are many people, none on this site obviously, who are much more knowledgeable and qualified to give an educated critique. I just felt it deserved another positive comment to counter the many negative ones, it seems like the director Ray Brady has a hate campaign from some dispossessed individual intent in damming this original and inspired piece...which I don't really understand and can't explain except to attribute it to ignorance. If you read production notes on the film, you'll realize the writer and director purposely used hand-held cameras to heighten audience tension and to convey a certain sense of realism and to be less intrusive...i.e., not encroach on the actors performances; just acting as a passive observer. In my mind this is brilliance, especially for such an intense, emotionally charged film where capturing certain things on film can only be done a certain way once and numerous camera and lighting setups would constantly interrupt the creative flow. I guess if you don't enjoy a film, you're not very likely to read production notes or check out the films website to learn about how it was made. So for that reason, you can forgive the ignorance of those who commented on how bad it was for childish, superficial reasons rather than making valid intelligent points. If you found it difficult to follow, you might want to stick to less "artsy" fare that doesn't make you think and leaves your brain feeling mushier than when you came into the theatre. This film is emotionally driven, the story is carried forward by the characters and their situations rather than a structured plot. If you insist on linear story telling and can't open your mind to something a little more abstract, you'll have a hard time with this one. In my opinion any movie that evokes such a strong visceral and emotional reaction, be it tears or laughter or even anger is certainly worth seeing. The performances in Day of the Sirens speak for themselves...both the principle actors are phenomenal, Saeed Jaffrey and ESPECIALLY Rik Mayall blew me away. I always thought of him as a great comic actor; the feelings he can exhibit with a facial expression or even just the look in his eyes sent chills up my spine. Go see it, rent it, whatever...even if you end up not liking it, its worth a try. Very British, bigger than TV but maybe too small for the big screen (without big names, a sensible realistic budget and a sizeable P&A budget), I was lucky enough to see this at a festival and I highly recommend it though when it is available DVD.