Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A South London teen gang must team up with the other residents of their housing estate to protect the neighbourhood from a terrifying alien invasion.
Attack the Block earns its highest mark in Novelty — Joe Cornish's film carves out a genuinely distinctive niche by fusing British urban youth culture, social commentary on race and class, and creature-feature horror in a way that feels wholly singular. The South London setting, the grime-inflected voice, and the wolfish bioluminescent alien design are unmistakable. The plot is functional and propulsive but follows a fairly conventional siege/survival structure. The young cast (led by John Boyega) deliver credible, charismatic work though not formally exceptional. Cornish shoots the estate's stairwells and corridors with atmospheric efficiency — strong but not cinematically adventurous. The ending resolves satisfyingly and lands its thematic point about systemic neglect, though it doesn't transcend the genre.