I saw an official pre-release screening of Clubbed at the Prince Charles cinema in London's Leicester Square and like the majority of the capacity audience I queued up outside with, I was totally blown away. I didn't know what to expect as the director was making his Feature debut and on the surface it looked like a period Brit flick. However, anyone expecting a Guy Ritchie/Nick Love style movie set in the 80's would have been very mistaken, and gladly so! Clubbed contains everything that those dreadful British Crime films fails to have, and that's HEART...One might think that a film set on the club doors of a violent midlands city in the thatcher ruined 80's might be a perfect vehicle for a bone breaking blood fest, and on one hand it is, for there is no denying it is a violent film, but the violence in Clubbed (as opposed to other British crime films) is there because it 'has' to be and not because the writer/director had too many 'lovely' testosterone flakes for breakfast. It is there to depict the average night in the life of a club doorman. The violence is therefore a barred window into their souls, their heart. Usually, (much like bad love scenes) scenes of violence can seem like an interlude, a perfect time to nip out for pop corn...but not in Clubbed. I'm sure this is down to the life of the writer Geoff Thompson, a Bafta winning writer who apparently spent almost 2 decades on the doors. Indeed after the screening he took to the stage to inform us that everything we saw actually happened! Frightening really. Thompson, (apart from a rather slow and over narrated first 10 minutes) has scribbled an interesting script. It's basically a story about fear (something we all have) and how to conquer it. "What does one do when ones only fear...is fear itself"? Then we come to the acting, and in my opinion this is where the film really excels, this is where clubbed stands apart from the usual suspects. Sadly the film industry, especially here in Britain is far too formulaic and it's all too easy to imagine what clubbed might have looked like if the non-risk taking hands of Ritchie or Love (and others). Jason Stathem and Danny 'is' Dyer stamping their mockney hard man (really as hard as candy floss) reebok classics all over it. No, rest assured, there certainly wont be a free copy of 'Clubbed' with every issue of NUTS or LOADED magazine. Thank god the producers took the risks and cast an ensemble of absolute ability over marketability. What we see is easily Colin Salmons finest performance (and the closest to himself apparently), a wonderfully still leading presence in the shape of Mel Raido, a fine subtle hero etched out by Shaun Parkes, and the absolute screen stealing electricity of Scott Williams, a truly iconic performance that will surely be remembered for time to come in the manner of Begbee (or sick boy if only for the hair). I hope this film is marketed correctly and in the right category for if it is, it will surely be a hit and the producers deserve it to be just that. Look out for it...Oh, and did I mention the amazing soundtrack!