Skip to content
Double Date is a British horror comedy which came out for a limited cinema run in October 2017, but I’m so glad that it’s finally got a Blu-ray and DVD release for reasons I shall explain below.
It centres around two women on dates with a difference – they’re homicidal murderers. Yes, if you’ve ever wondered why you didn’t get a second date with a woman – Did she not fancy you? Did you wear the wrong shoes? Is she not impressed by your Xbox Gamertag score? …well, with these two, it’s usually because you’re no longer breathing.
If you thought the stabbing in Basic Instinct‘s opener was gruesome, this (ahem) packs a punch… with a blade.
According to Jim’s (Danny Morgan) dating profile, he’s looking for a woman to ‘lose himself’ with… Well, with these ladies, that will almost certainly happen, as while Kitty (Kelly Wenham, above) and Lulu (Georgia Groome) are the women of his dreams, they might just also do the same for his nightmares but there’s also a reason to the girls’ devilish plan, which you’ll soon discover.
Jim gets dumped by his girlfriend, and by text (I’ve been there), but as his friend Alex (Michael Socha) points out, “Well, she put a ‘x’ at the end of it. That’s nice of her, innit(?)”
Meanwhile, how do you think his luck will pan out when, early on, he’s set up with ‘cryer’ Jennifer (Olivia Poulet – The Thick Of It, and more recently as Alison, David Mitchell’s ex in Back on Channel 4)?
When later mimicking to Alex how she was desperate for sex while in such a state, he realises, and asks…
- Jim: “Is this turning you on??!”
Alex (carefree): “Little bit, yeah”
And that sets the tone for regular laughs including deep belly ones, often down to some great misdirection, as well as fantastic chemistry with the two pairings. In fact, there’s plenty of times when I was creasing up at real-world language being used as replies to the outlandish situation, and you’re drawn in to the point where it feels like it could actually be true! This is neatly balanced with elements that we’re all used to in the perils of dating, including coming out with the wrong thing when chatting girls up.
If you recognise Danny Morgan then, as Jake, he used to buy drugs from Johnny Vegas in Ideal, while Michael Socha has been in a number of shows including This is England and Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams: Crazy Diamond.
Double Date is the perfect Halloween horror comedy, and a future British cult classic and I was crying laughing. In addition, the first time I saw this, while coming out of the other side of a heavy cold, just as I’d got my cough under control, the film set me off again, it was that brilliant 🙂
McFly fans will also be pleased to see Dougie Poynter pop up in this, early on.
With some split-surround in the driving scene, and some great bass in the club, I could recite lines from this film over and over, but it would negate the point of watching it so, basically – if you like sharp editing, great writing and a film packed with humour that’s not only hilarious but consistently so, then this is for you. Fans of Ben Wheatley and Alice Lowe’s work, with films such as Sightseers, Free Fire and Prevenge, should check this out without delay.
And yes, it really is a 15-certificate!
The extras are as follows, and just before the release of Blu-ray and DVD, there was a screening in London including a Q&A. It’s a shame that didn’t happen earlier so it could be included on this disc. I do hope that’ll end up online soon and in full. If it does, I’ll include a link on here (even if it’s not in full, but I would love it to be in full, since I don’t live in London so wouldn’t have been able to get there for it):
- The Making Of (32:35): Getting the film from script to screen, with director/editor Benjamin Barfoot, writer/actor Danny Morgan and more, and there’s also clips from some early short films of Danny’s such as a drunk Ron Weasley in a 2011 short, Where Did It All Go Ron?, but it would’ve been fantastic to have these included on the disc, too. Hopefully for the next film?
- Deleted Scenes (3:26): Two scenes – one with a murder, and one with the band in the Royal Legion. Both worth a look, but not something that need to be put back into the film.
- Image Gallery (4:10): A ton of pics, changing every five seconds.
- Trailers Four of them: Main trailer (2:34), Girls (0:34), Boys (0:42), Jokes (0:45).
The main menu features some not-so-subtle animation of a knife being slashed by Kitty, in order to bring about the main menu screen itself, which all looks pretty cool and is taken from the opening credits, as is the music featured, which is Goat’s Run To Your Mama.
Sadly, there are just 12 chapters and no subtitles, and it really needs the latter, since there’s a lot of loud scenes where the dialogue ends up getting muffled, even if it is mostly drunken ramblings. For those chapters, I always go by the rule of thumb of one every five minutes, so around 18 would be just great.
And, until Friday September 27th, you can enter a competition to win a copy of Blu-ray!
Double Date is out now on Blu-ray, DVD and Amazon Video.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
9 10 9 2 |
| OVERALL | 7.5 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 89 minutes
Year: 2017
Distributor: Sparky Pictures
Released: September 9th 2019
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD-MA 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Format: 2.39:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Benjamin Barfoot
Producers: Maggie Monteith and Matthew James Wilkinson
Screenplay: Danny Morgan
Cast:
Jim: Danny Morgan
Lulu: Georgia Groome
Alex: Michael Socha
Kitty: Kelly Wenham
Laura: Liz Kingsman
Steven Barker: Dougie Poynter
Young Kitty: Brooke Norbury
Prostitute / Cleaner: Maria Barr
Girl at bar: Tanika Beckford
Frankie: Benny Bereal
Lady in bar: Kerrieanne Booker
Clubber: Sarah Carmen
Lady in bar: Charley Clark
Lady Bar Customer: Georgia Elliott
Gwendoline (Alex’s boss): Jasmine Geohagen
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.