PopHorror Let's Get Scared
If you’re not familiar with the work of UK filmmaker Darren Ward, fret not, neither was I. However, with a new boxed set, Blu-ray release from Ward’s own Giallo Films and Treasured Films Ltd., the maestro of lo-fi brutality will finally get a wider audience, and his sanguinary soaked due!
Overview
This exhaustive set collects the entire output of the UK’s godfather of guns and gore Darren Ward, whose high-octane and ultra-violent features deliver no-holds barred gunplay, heaps of gore, and fiercely independent love-letters to Italian genre cinema.
Containing no less than 3 feature length films, and 5 short films, and a multitude of extras, this boxed set leaves virtually no stone unturned as far as Darren Ward’s body of work. Being known as the “John Woo of Southhampton” sets the bar pretty high.
Starting with Sudden Fury (1997) a story of two small time hoods Randall (Paul Murphy) and his henchman Jimmy (Andy Ranger) who run afoul of the legendary hitman Walker (Nick Rendell) when they double cross him after hiring him to eliminate the local drug kingpin. Sudden Fury sets the tone quick, as we’re shown right away, that nothing is off limits in Ward’s weird world, even kids in TMNT shirts! Spaghetti splatter legend David Warbeck (The Beyond) shows up in a perfect role as the mob boss’s gleefully sadistic Pike.
Simple, eloquently paced, and loaded to the gills with hot lead, Sudden Fury, while suffering a bit from it’s budget limitations, a very solid entry into the action/revenge genre.
A Day of Violence (2010) features some familiar faces, as Mitchell (Rendell) an underworld debt collector, stumbles upon a cache of cash (see what I did there?) in a drugged-out derelict’s apartment (Giovanni Lombardo Radice; City of the Living Dead). Offing the guy and making off with the money doesn’t bode well for Mitchell, as he is soon relentlessly hunted by the owners of the cash. Friend and foe alike are dispatched with in-your-face violence in this gory, stylish, yarn that plays more as a John Wick inspired horror film a full 4 years before that film even existed.
Deftly shot, and definitely inspired by the stylish films of Argento and Bava, and the full-on gore of Fulci, A Day of Violence lives up to it’s title with every frame.
The return of Walker (Rendell) is the theme of Beyond Fury (2019) and it is easily Ward’s most accomplished film, despite it being made literally on-the-fly. When Walker’s girl (Dani Thompson; My Bloody Banjo) and unborn child are murdered, he does what every action film guy does—seeks some bloody vengeance!! Just when you thought it wasn’t possible for Ward to make a more violent film, he unleashes this crisply paced, unforgiving masterpiece (yes, I said “masterpiece”).
Featuring some truly inspired work from Radice, Dan Van Husen (Salon Kitty) and Thompson, this is a crowning achievement for Ward, better written, better acted, and better overall than his previous work, all while still managing to be, at the very least, ankle deep in the red stuff!
All three discs are in individual cases, each with reversible artwork, in a nice slipcase box. Included within is a 31 page booklet from Tom Lee Rutter with essays on each film, as well as production stories and anecdote (the story of the casting of Warbeck is great!). Visually, all three films look passable in hi-def, given the source medium, and the sound is great throughout. As I mentioned above, this set contains Ward’s entire body of work through 2025, so the short films: Bitter Vengeance (1994), Blue Fear (1993), Paura Il Diavolo (1992) are included on disc 1, with Nightmares (2004) and Passion (2025) on 2 and 3 respectively. Each disc is absolutely loaded with extras as well-featurettes, commentaries, BTS footage, you name it, and it’s included! Ward must have turned over everything but his shopping list!
To quote an old Exodus song (look it up), this box set is good friendly violent fun! An extremely complete study of Ward’s incredibly inspired body of work, it definitely begs the question: what’s next? Fans of Woo, Ritchie, Tarantino, and yes, even Lucio Fulci, will find plenty of gold to mine here. Giallo? Maybe not, technically. Guns and gore?? Abso-fuckin-lutely!
Treasured Films’ Blu-ray boxset of Gialli, Gun and Gore: The Brutal Films of Darren Ward is available now from fine retailers.
