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Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell, Stuart Wolfenden, Neil Bell ... see more see more... , Paul Sadot , Jo Hartley , Seamus O'Neill , Paul Hurstfield , Emily Aston , George Newton , Craig Considine , Matt Considine , Andrew Shim

Richard (Paddy Considine of In America) returns to the rural region of Derbyshire, where he grew up, after seven years in the military. His mentally challenged brother, Anthony (newcomer Toby Kebbell)... read more read more..., tags along. Something awful has happened to Anthony, and Richard means to set things right. Richard angrily confronts Herbie (Stuart Wolfenden), a small-time drug dealer, in the local pub, then creepily apologizes to him a few minutes later outside. Herbie runs to his mates and tells them what happened, but before they have a chance to respond, they find that they're targets. Richard starts out with relatively harmless pranks, vandalizing their houses and painting their faces while they're asleep. Sonny (former boxer Gary Stretch), the gang's bullying leader, confronts Richard on the street, but Richard refuses to back down. Sonny's ragtag crew are ill equipped to respond to Richard's ruthless military tactics. As Richard inexorably goes about his business, and the bodies begin to pile up, we learn, through flashbacks, what happened to Anthony. Dead Man's Shoes was directed by Shane Meadows (Once Upon a Time in the Midlands), who co-wrote the script with Considine. The film had its U.S. premiere at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

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82% liked it

58,859 ratings

Critics

56% liked it

41 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min.

Directed by: Shane Meadows

Release Date: May 12, 2006

Keywords: revenge, slasher

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DVD Release Date: September 5, 2006

Stats: 3,798 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (3,798)

  • 76Majikat
    January 20, 2012
    76Majikat
    Gritty, emotionally powerful, raw and what British Films should be made of. With an almost frightening reality to it, none of the cast could be faulted.

    This was the film that introduced me to the collaboration of Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine and as a result I became a hug... read moree fan of their individual works..

    Still very much my favourite British film and proof that good film making doesn't have to have a big budget or high tech effects. Mind games, intimidation and revenge are the power behind this story. I've seen many non-Brits class this as a horror even a Slasher (which is a bit of an insult I feel), but it's too real and passionate to be that.

    Finally it's only when you look over this film time and time again you come to understand what a great role Toby Kebbell also played in this.

    Yes I never stop praising this fillm, it epitomizes everything that can be great from a low budget film and it's one hell of a revenge movie.
  • theunknownhobo
    October 7, 2011
    theunknownhobo
    An amazingly heart felt and empowering slasher flick that puts the method back into the madness and for once, gives us a killer with a motive and small budget. No elaborate traps, haunting scenary or dramatic turns - just one man set to exact revenge on those who have harmed his ... read moreown. Crushingly honest, brutal dialogue and some of the best acting I have ever seen come from this fair isle, this film is a very good one indeed. It leaves me wondering whether Hollywood should take a glance over to the UK to see how real pain can be on screen without the need of million of dollars or twisty turny plots - Dead Man's Shoes proves that all you need to make a film great is people that are good at their jobs - cast, crew and audience. Amazing.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    September 1, 2011
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that."

    A disaffected soldier (Considine) returns to his hometown to get even with the thugs who brutalized his mentally challenged brother (Kebbell) years ago.

    ... read more face="Century Schoolbook">REVIEW
    The simple oft-trod tale of revenge for a right undone - in this case an English ex-soldier's return to his northern country hamlet for some bloody justice for the crimes committed against his slow-minded younger brother by a local drug- dealing hooligan and his cronies, while away on duty - is a cinematic chestnut offering many devices for the filmmaker to employ, namely the flashback narrative (here done in grainy B&W 8mm home-movie style adding to the gritty verisimilitude permeating the pulp noir at hand) and the anti-hero protagonist (Considine giving an implosively blistering performance of furious retribution), Richard, "Anthony's brother" - as he is constantly referred to in trembly depositions by each member of the doomed thugs as if whispering a ghost's name - begins his five day (attributed by the title cards employed) spree of justice.

    The brutality and vulgar cruelty - bested upon Anthony (a very good turn by Kebbell making for very empathetic/sympathetic victim needing to be vanquished) whose only crime was not knowing the common sense in seeing just how ugly his new 'friends' could be (again told in a certain amount of restraint in the scratchy black and white sequences, jarring as they are) - indeed are in need for swift retribution and when we first see Richard, a slight, malnourished pasty-white, scratchily bearded, porcupiney scalp of Considine's character we assume he is just one of the unassuming, local blokes of the pub/ pool hall that one of the goons is dealing drugs in. When he is accosted by the dealer he lets out a vitriolic outburst that scorches the skin and chills the spine for the sudden explosive invective that only signals a death-head's warrant of what carnage is about to come. With his bristly beard suggesting a burr patch and his dark brown eyes gone dead-cold with hollow contempt Considine echoes Robert De Niro's walking dead Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver", not so much physically but in demeanor. A husk of a man who served his country only to return to a junk pile residue that was once his home and a desperate need to do some monstrous things in unspeakable ways to those who have unsettled his natural habitat. His Richard, however, has a soul and it aches you to its core when on display in a heartbreaking twist sequence I will not divulge here but it hits you in the solar plexus.

    Filmmaker Shane Meadows has a keen eye for detail and how to set an appropriate tone of absolute dread (nods to ace work done by composer Aphex Twin (AKA Richard James), Danny Cohen's cinematography and the editing team of Celia Haining, Lucas Roche and Chris Wyatt all make for moments of absolute dread and unease); a compliment indeed. While Meadows and Considine - friends in real life as well - smartly show only moments of graphic violence it is with the underlying theme of a good man gone monster is what underscores the visceral ice-numbing moments of fear and smartly not getting into a slasher type of exploitation horror film despite Richard's cheeky decision to wear an unsettling gas-mask suggesting the love child of Darth Vader and The Elephant Man.
  • blkbomb
    May 29, 2011
    blkbomb
    I couldn't get into Dead Man's Shoes. I hated the way it was presented. It felt to me as if a group of inexperienced friends got together and decided to make a movie. The only thing I can say that is positive about the movie is that Tony Kebbell isn't horrible. Other than that, e... read moreverything else is.
  • StarCrossedVoyager
    May 11, 2011
    StarCrossedVoyager
    Although this film has a good cast who do good performances this film just doesn't sit right with me. I didn't like the violence and it was just difficult to watch. A slow death.
  • stuartb1234
    April 15, 2011
    stuartb1234
    An amazing film. If you have not seen it, get it. I love revenge style movies and this is one of the most realistic ones. Guy returns home from the army to make the people who bullied his handicapped brother pay. Well written, perfectly cast and harrowing. Can't believe I had mis... read moresed it until now.
  • garyX
    April 7, 2011
    garyX
    This bleak tale of revenge set in a small English town sees Paddy Considine leaving the army and returning home to extract brutal revenge on a group of small time drug dealers who abused his retarded younger brother while he was away. This is an unusual revenge thriller as it oft... read moreen looks more like a slasher flick; Considine is obviously an unstable murderer who has been trained to kill and he systematically executes each of his victims in a very horror film style way. Except in this case his victims are a bunch of unsympathetic scum bags who you can't help feeling probably deserve their fate. In this way the film throws up many mixed emotions as you're never quite sure who you are supposed to be rooting for! But the real kick in the gut is provided by Shane Meadows; he directs very much like a documentary photographer cataloging the grim reality of working class small town life. The actors involved are ugly. They have bad hair and cheap clothes. In other words they look like REAL people, not Hollywood's glamorized, sanitized version of them. As such you feel you are right there in the thick of it, actually witnessing these gruesome events rather than just watching a piece of entertainment. It won't be to everyone's tastes as it's quite a tough movie to sit through because of its extremely grim subject matter, but the extremely powerful final scene makes it more than worth it.
  • matertenebraum
    February 10, 2011
    matertenebraum
    Well, you can probably tell from the summary that I thought this was a really good film. To be frank, from the first few minutes I felt that knot in my stomach that comes from deep apprehension and anxiety; I was being manipulated from the off, and it just got more and more inten... read morese.

    The film is a straight revenge story - a man goes back to a small town in the north of England to take revenge on a group of people who abused and tortured his mentally-retarded brother. Richard has been in the army for several years and is trained as a mercenary, but he plays mind games as much as he resorts to violence. In fact, I had to ask my friend if this qualified as a slasher film (which is how you will probably see it advertised) and we didn't think that the term does it justice.

    The script is superb, and reminded me of Almadovar in that it squeezes an incredible amount of detail about the characters without any clumsy exposition. For example, to gauge the relationship between Richard (an astonishing portrayal by Paddy Considine) and his handicapped brother Anthony (played by Toby Kebbel with skill and sensitivity, and not a little sensuality) pay close attention to the conversation where they talk about a childhood football match. So much said about their characters, their relationship and the situation, in so few words.

    A film as violent, aggressive and discomforting as this has no right to be as funny is it is, but it gets away with it. The gang upon whom Richard takes revenge are at times touching, farcical, disgusting, pitiable but ultimately human. The worst of humanity laid bare, making you want to retch and laugh at the same time.

    I am not going to spoil this film by going into the little twists and turns, the less you know about the plot the better. Although many of my reasons for being so impressed with this movie are personal, I think that the script, acting, cinematography, direction, editing and soundtrack are all brilliant. This film is on a limited cinema release, but search it out; it will take you on a hell of a journey.

    "God will forgive them and let them into heaven, I can't let that happen"
  • Deano78
    November 5, 2010
    Deano78
    A powerful, quirky revenge film. Low budget, plain simple plot but the realism due to the low budget makes it more hard hitting. Great performances and dialogue, this is a film you will not forget!
  • LWOODS04
    October 23, 2010
    LWOODS04
    Cast: Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell, Paul Sadot, John Hartley, Seamus O'Neill, Paul Hurstfield, Emily Aston, George Newton

    Director: Shane Meadows

    Summary: Richard (Paddy Considine) comes home from the army bent on revenge against the local gang of dealers and... read more thugs that brutalized his mentally disabled brother, Anthony (Toby Kebbell). Richard's one-man guerrilla campaign terrorizes the bullies, who begin to turn on one another as he efficiently eliminates them one by one.

    My Thoughts: "A well made low budget British film. But before going any further with this I must say this film had the most ridiculous looking small car I have ever seen in a film. Now that I said that, I like Paddy Considine in these more aggressive roles. He plays these parts well. It's a sad but revengeful tale. The things they do to his brother are quite unforgivable. The events taken place with the petty drug dealers and Richards younger brother is told in flashbacks. It was uncomfortable watching them make fun and torment him. The ending was a surprise. I didn't see it playing out that way. I liked the surprise of it. I know there are a lot of revenge movie's out there, but this one has a lot of compassion in it. You feel immensely sad for the younger brother, and by the ending you also feel the same for Richard."

View All Dead Man's Shoes Reviews

Critic Reviews

Derek Elley
August 4, 2006
Derek Elley, Variety

Film plays as a quirky Brit riff on everything from U.S. slasher pics to revenge oaters but without Meadows' usual psychological complexity. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
July 21, 2006
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

In a swift 86 minutes, director Meadows and co-writer/star Considine give us a methodical, handsome, emotionally intelligent version of the revenge flick. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
May 20, 2006
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

In the end, the picture's more pulp than juice. Full Review

Jessica Reaves
May 18, 2006
Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune

There's a hint of Shakespeare's goriest tragedies here, sucked dry of any attendant heart, emotional depth or compelling human interest. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
May 12, 2006
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

A poor fit for anyone. And that includes even the undiscriminating gorehounds looking for yet another bloody slice of payback. Full Review

Lou Lumenick
May 12, 2006
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

Meadows ... very slowly builds to a powerful climax for this arty cross between Straw Dogs and First Blood.

Jami Bernard
May 12, 2006
Jami Bernard, New York Daily News

Like Park Chan-wook's Vengeance trilogy, it explores the nature of the beast of revenge, leaving the audience in a sweat of dread. Full Review

Laura Kern
May 11, 2006
Laura Kern, New York Times

Despite some hints at conscience and humanity, Dead Man's Shoes is a typical slasher film at the core.

Rex Reed
May 10, 2006
Rex Reed, New York Observer

Dead Man's Shoes is for the true connoisseur: a tight, well-made, evocative piece of filmmaking that recalls the extreme emotions in some of Sam Peckinpah's genre-benders about retribution and vigilan... Full Review

Luke Y. Thompson
May 9, 2006
Luke Y. Thompson, Village Voice

Dead Man's Shoes is all about revenge, but in trying to be one of those serious revenge films that questions violence while indulging in it, it manages to keep virtually all the characters unsympathet... Full Review

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Dead Man's Shoes Trivia

  • What was the name of the film about a man whose brother was killed went on a killing spree disguising himself with a gasmask to seek revenge?  Answer »
  • "God will forgive them, he will forgive them and allow them into heaven. I cant live with that"....what film is this quote in??  Answer »
  • In Shane Meadows' "Dead Man's Shoes", how does Richard reply to "Some of the lads have this crazy idea that-"...  Answer »
  • in dead mans shoes why is richard killing all the gang  Answer »
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