The Group Digital Release Review

4 star compact and well thought out thriller.

The Group is a 2024 British drama/thriller film, written and directed by William Higo (World of Death).

It is available on UK Digital Platforms from 2nd September 2024, courtesy of Reel 2 Reel Films.

“Well, here he is, sitting opposite to you in a friggin’ circle. Addiction, the great equalizer, right?”

Kara (Evangelina Burton – Sky Monster) is a heroine addict who has just found herself in hospital after using while on her medication. She discharges herself and heads for a place she used to go to, a recovery group called A.T.T., Addicts Anonymous Together. She hasn’t been for a while and group leader Ellen (Alicia Novak – Alyx) is surprised to see her but allows her to stay on the proviso that she doesn’t cause any trouble.

The usual suspects are in attendance, including her two friends Seth (Luke Dayhill – The Art of Love) and Eddy (Nobuse Jnr – Hello Au Revoir) who is most definitely not recovering, in fact he’s shooting up in the bathroom. Also there are Charley (Jennifer Aries – Ghosted) who is feeling particularly bitchy this evening, Dave (Mike Kelson – Chandu Champion), the hard nosed ex cop and Henry (Tom Coulston – The Placebo) a sulky suit wearing office type who is only there to get his ticket stamped.

Everything seems to be going as usual, when suddenly in comes a stranger, Jack (Dylan Baldwin – Dune: Part 2, The Girl with the Fork), an angry bald man holding them at gunpoint, who seems to know everyone’s deepest secrets. But what are his real motivations for crashing this seemingly routine recovery group meeting?

“You has a choice. You had a choice to be a mother or a smackhead and you chose drugs over me, isn’t that right?”

The Group is an excellent watch. The story is good and the characters are well written, you feel you’ve grown to know them very quickly, helped in large part by some outstanding acting performances.

There are no gimmicks used here either, William Higo artfully allows the tension to build organically, using lingering shots of the actors and their surroundings and putting us into their predicament.

It’s quite a short film, coming in at just just under 74 minutes, but it gets in everything it needs to in that time and is expertly paced to keep you interested right to the very end. An excellent thriller and well worth a watch.

“Do you want to take something from me? Friends, family, self respect? I’ve got nothing left for you to take.”