Attack The Block is the first film written and directed by Joe Cornish (of Adam and Joe fame) and has Nick Frost in it. With the line “From the producers of Shaun of the Dead” on the advertising, and much like Shaun it’s a horror/comedy, though with a sci-fi element. I first heard of it a few months ago and it’s been getting some good buzz online, but the trailer really sealed the deal in making me want to see it.

The story is of a group of kids on a south London council estate living in a tower block. We start the film on Guy Fawkes night, a young woman, Sam, returning from work runs in to the kids outside and they proceed to mug her, taking her phone, purse and ring, then run off, only to be shocked when something falls from space and destroys a car they’re stood next to. Thinking there may be something worth stealing in the car the leader, Moses, looks in the car only to be attacked by something which runs off. Being the tough man that he is Moses won’t allow any animal to get away with that and runs off after it. When they corner it they decide to scare it with some fire works then go and beat it to death.

After taking it back to the tower block for safe keeping in the local dealers flat they see more of these things falling from the sky and decide to get tooled up and go kill them. Only to discover these ones are bigger and meaner and they have to run. Meanwhile Sam has called the police and has been riding around looking for her attackers and spotting Moses they pick him up, but when they put him in the back of the van one of the creatures attacks and kills the police officers and Sam and Moses are left stuck in van, until the rest of his friends save them and they decide they’d be better off back in the block.

Now I’m not sure if I went in expecting too much from the good word this has been getting, but I left the cinema feeling underwhelmed. It kinda feels like Aliens on a council estate, and on that level it works, a British take on an Aliens type story. Though personally I find the humour falls rather flat, I chuckled a few times but I can’t say I thought it was brilliantly funny or even well observed humour. Horror wise, well it made me jump a couple of times which is a couple more times than Scream 4 managed but isn’t really scary, some gore showing up doesn’t really make it frightening. But it either feels like serious film that’s trying to be funny at times and often fails, or a funny film which gets too serious. The lack of laughter in the cinema seemed telling on this point. There’s some social commentary there about disaffected youth, growing up on council estates with few prospects and probably something to be said about community but it feels out of place in a film that was advertised like it was a comedy.

The effects work, while interesting, looks kinda shoddy, though if you’ve seen the trailer you’ve probably already seen that.

Overall it has its charms but failed to really draw me in enough to just enjoy it for what it was. Possible my expectations were raised and what is essentially an OK film was ruined by me expecting a great one.