Bloody Kids

A lot of young lads have their fair share of monkey shines growing up, though perhaps nothing quite on this scale. An 11 year old future psychopath somehow convinces his naive buddy to pretend to stab him outside a football stadium during a packed match, while dropping a fake blood pack to make it look real.

A cute boy with a cold, manipulative, feckless demeanour convinces his friend to pretend to stab him at a football game with a penknife and a fake bag of blood. Unsurprisingly, he gets stabbed for real, and the boy goes on the run.

This little-seen and under-appreciated film accurately captures the bleakness and alienation of youth like few other films succeed in doing. It was shown on New Zealand television about 20 years ago and I've never had a chance to see it again.

Originally made for television, Bloody Kids (aka One Joke Too Many) emerged from an era of gritty, state-of-the-nation British film and TV dramas such as Scum, Meantime and its near-namesake, London Weekend Television's 'Kids', also from 1979.Stephen Poliakoff's debut screenplay comes furnished with a more esteemed roster than most - director Stephen Frears, producer Barry Hanson (The Naked Civil Servant, The Long Good Friday), cinematographer Chris Menges (Kes, Babylon, The Killing Fields) - and, though thematically typical of the period, departs from the norm with its more experimental approach, imbued with hyper-real stylings which owe more to European art cinema and American noir than kitchen sink verite.

It's difficult to know how to assess this film. There are parts that deserve a 10 star rating and parts that barely deserve 1 star.

I do remember walking down to "old Leigh" (Leigh-on-sea)one night in early March watching them film a scene for this movie at the underpass by the cockle sheds. In addition while in the 'Peterboat ' pub I saw Richard Beckinsale sampling some of the local brew and was struck how overweight he looked despite the fact he was well over six feet (he looked in good shape in Rising Damp and Porridge).

Originally made for television, Bloody Kids (aka One Joke Too Many) emerged from an era of gritty, state-of-the-nation British film and TV dramas such as Scum, Meantime and its near-namesake, London Weekend Television's 'Kids', also from 1979.Stephen Poliakoff's debut screenplay comes furnished with a more esteemed roster than most - director Stephen Frears, producer Barry Hanson (The Naked Civil Servant, The Long Good Friday), cinematographer Chris Menges (Kes, Babylon, The Killing Fields) - and, though thematically typical of the period, departs from the norm with its more experimental approach, imbued with hyper-real stylings which owe more to European art cinema and American noir than kitchen sink verite.

This film impressed me greatly, bleak but powerful especially in it's ending and Poliakoff's early, terse screenplay is excellent. Although made in the late 70's the film has aged remarkably well and still feels relevant.

Seeing as I come from where the film is set, Southend-On-Sea, its like a visual history of my formative years. First saw the film on BFBS in Germany and was quite amazed to see Peter Clark who I knew when we were younger.