johnarkin The Killing Zone is a film which concerns itself with being cleaver within its budget and it succeeds successfully. Ten years ago this film won best picture at the LA New York film festival and got a great review from Harry at ain't it cool. This film should be hailed as one of Britain's best unseen movies ever! The Killing Zone a character driven piece with a beautifully written script.Three stories in one movie – we follow an assassin on his last two jobs, I'm not going to spoil it for you by giving you the details of the plot but let me say this if you buy or rent this movie out you will not regret it! First time director Ian David Diaz has an amiable film style focusing on telling the story and getting the best out of his unknown actors. A deceptively simple but brilliant film I encourage you to rent or as I did buy this film, as I've said above you will not regret it.

iddzone I must say this movie is one of the best low budget UK features I've seen in a long time. I watched it on VHS and now have my own copy on DVD. The Killing Zone serves to remind us what's possible within the medium of film no matter how low budget the film is. Director Ian David Diaz's debut feature is griping and hilarious from start to finish and I can honestly say I was hooked from the off. What impresses me the most is Diaz's direction and imagination; he has an undeniable talent for bringing out the best in all his cast as well creating quirky visual characters. My only question is why was it not release in the cinemas?

alan_d62-2 If you thought 'Lock, Stock' shot itself in the foot and 'Snatch' sucked the big one, then this is the British crime thriller you should really be shelling out your five bucks for.'The Killing Zone' is the perfect example of how a no-budget indie crime anthology should be made. It's tight, lean and the final 'third' of the trilogy is a cracker. OK, it's a slow burn for the first ten or fifteen minutes, but well worth sticking with it to get clued in on the main characters involved.All the principal acting performances are spot on - well-rounded characters and some excellent 'film' style dialogue, which makes a pleasant and unexpected change from the usual turgid TV/theatre speak that so often pops up in British films. Melissa Simonetti and Mark Bowden stand out for special praise in this respect.I gather this cult classic-in-the-making will be hitting the video shelves in the US at the end of Spetember. Do yourselves a favour and head for your nearest video store pronto.Believe the hype. You won't regret it.WHY HASN'T THIS FILM BEEN GIVEN A THEATRICAL RELEASE?!

mwalker78 I'm pleased to say there are many reviews of this film circulating (Ain't it Cool included), and I haven't seen a bad one yet.I saw The Killing Zone myself at its market screening in Cannes last year, and I'm so glad to see it's finally getting wider circulation. What stuns me is how it didn't achieve a theatrical release in the UK, while other lesser films received silver screen treatment they didn't deserve.So what is it that makes me like this film so much?Well firstly, it's so refreshing to see a British film which avoids grim locations and subjects. The Zone's makers have clearly set out first and foremost to create a commercial feature, to make it as slick, glossy, stylish and cool as they can. And boy, do they succeed.The lighting, camera and sound are all engineered to give a distinctly American sheen to the clearly British Crime scene. And the music too; a real orchestral sound, built around John Barry 60s motifs by Guy Michelmore, adds depth and resonance to scenes already well written and performed, highlighting moments which twist from the painfully tense, to side-splittingly funny (though I wasn't so sure about the use of electric guitars in the second story). The writer-director, Ian David Diaz, isn't above throwing our expectations too. I won't spoil it for you, but I was pleased and surprised to be caught off guard by the odd revelation and surprise moment. You can see Diaz's influences; clearly the 60s Harry Palmer films and Tarantino (the Zone is basically three stories in one film) are guesting in his writing and direction, but Diaz makes such influences his own. An assured and knowing debut.All the performances are top-notch, though a couple of the lesser roles come across a little shaky, and distracted a bit from the main action. The lead, Padraig Casey as Palmer, gives an un-nervingly cold face to the anti-hero assassin, so used to killing he knows little feeling himself now. An odd contrast to Palmer's buddy, Lance - played with relish by Mark Bowden. A journalist beer-guzzler writing Palmer's biography, Lance is not above a willingness to selfishly cut his losses when the going gets tough in the third story. The women shine too; Melissa Simonetti is a gleefully deranged hired gun "Woman in Black" in the second story, and Nicola Stapleton's sexy Kerry - Palmer's girl - communicates perfectly the young girl's desperate situation in the third story. Generally I'm surprised such a cast aren't seen more in the British film scene.Above all I'm stunned at what was achieved with so little money. Check out the makers' website, where they tell you how they did it. Impressive.Better than Lock Stock, in my opinion. And not a chirpy, cheeky cockney in sight.I hope you're making another film soon, Mr Diaz.