Watch Now: STRONGROOM

Even though he was well known for directing B-movies, director Vernon Sewell was widely appreciated for elevating them beyond their budget confines. His work was well deserving of better opportunities with bigger budgets, something that, unfortunately, never came to pass. And if there was ever a movie that proved that point, it would be Strongroom. With two parallel storylines, Sewell takes us on a thrilling crime adventure. The fact that the film takes place in just a few rooms enables us to truly feel the slow tempo of living in a small English town, which is, in turn, juxtaposed with something exciting and unexpected, like a bank robbery.

In the movie, criminals Griff (Derren Nesbitt), Len Warren (Keith Faulkner) and Alec Warren (W. Morgan Sheppard) decide to rob a bank during a holiday, when there are no customers, only one cashier (Ann Lynn) and the bank manager (Colin Gordon). After locking them in the strongroom, the robbers are surprised by the cleaning crew so they leave the bank with the money, without letting the cashier and the bank manager out. Upon returning to their hideout, the criminals are afraid that the two locked in the strongroom will suffocate because nobody will set them free until Tuesday. They do not want to be murderers, so they devise a plan to get the strongroom keys to the police. Naturally, things do not end the way the robbers wanted them to. A shocking ending and a charismatic performance from Nesbitt make this movie a gem worth seeing, proof that a big budget is not everything when it comes to creating a memorable cinematic experience.

Watch Now: STRONGROOM