Brit lads on a boys weekend subgenre.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

I kind of noticed a bunch of these recently and it's a subgenre I'm enjoying. The rules basically go like this: A group of rowdy British lads get together to celebrate a bucks or something. They bond over put downs and shows of maschismo brutally establishing a pecking order. The man at the lowest rung of that pecking order is often our hero. Then something horrible happens and all the posturing goes out the window and we see how pathetically ill prepared they are for anything out of the ordinary.

I think the first of these I was aware of was the series Mad Dogs. That's got it's own thread here so I won't prattle on about that one.

Shortly after that I saw Stag:

Very similar territory to Mad Dogs. It's just more contained and a lot funnier. I thought it was tops.

Then there was the horror film The Ritual. I kind of enjoyed this one too. More horror, less laughs this time out as things descend into Blair With territory.

And then today I was watching Calibre.

Less horror and less comedy with this one- fewer lads too- but this is pretty intense stuff. One of those stories where an honest but hideous mistake leads to a serious of bad decisions and before you know it people are blowing one anothers heads off. Again enjoyed it quite a bit.

Have there been others I've missed?

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

You missed the fun horror-comedy Doghouse. I really enjoyed it a lot.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I kind of noticed a bunch of these recently and it's a subgenre I'm enjoying. The rules basically go like this: A group of rowdy British lads get together to celebrate a bucks or something. They bond over put downs and shows of maschismo brutally establishing a pecking order. The man at the lowest rung of that pecking order is often our hero. Then something horrible happens and all the posturing goes out the window and we see how pathetically ill prepared they are for anything out of the ordinary.

A lot of these remind me essentially of DELIVERANCE (either James Dickey's novel or John Boorman's film) with bits of other stories thrown in (THE WICKER MAN is a favourite - eg, RITUAL; what the young 'uns call 'folk horror' these days). Many of them have that Victorian town/country dualism at their heart - the town or city being a place of education and enlightenment, and the countryside being a place of superstition, inbreeding and naivete.

RITUAL would have worked just as well had it been set in parts of Wales or Penwith. I mean, seriously, some parts of the British Isles still seem to be steeped in that Pagan tradition. (My aunt used to let/manage a load of holiday properties in Penwith and she has some stories to tell about bizarre, ritualistic goings on in that part of the country.)

It's not a male group, but THE DESCENT is of course allied with these pictures, as is DOG SOLDIERS. Very STRAW DOGS-inspired and with a couple rather than a male group, EDEN LAKE is essentially similar. too. KILL LIST also. (I really liked KILL LIST, actually.)

I'd also recommend BORDERLANDS, which was a little ham-fisted at the climax but worked nicely for the most part, imo.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

I really enjoyed THE RITUAL.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

A lot of these remind me essentially of DELIVERANCE

Now you mention it the Deliverance connection is obvious but not one I'd made myself. It's the obvious antecedent of all these. Looking down the back wood yokels (or Europeans as they case may be) from their jobs as bankers, invetors etc is a key part of these movies.