Pillion is When Harry Met Alex, or rather, Colin (Harry Melling – The Devil All the Time) meeting Ray (Alexander Skarsgård – Murderbot), and soon finding out who’s Cock of the walk!
By night, Colin’s normally playing in a cheesy barbershop quartet in pubs with his Dad, Pete (Douglas Hodge, who was also in The Devil All the Time!), and by day, is a parking ticket inspector, and while I have been caught out by them before, there is a part of me that would love to give that job a try.
Quite early on in Pillion, there’s one of the most offensive scenes I’ve ever seen committed to film: the pub charges £4.80 for 3 bags of crisps?! WTF?!
Less strong, is how Ray beguiles Colin in the pub on Xmas Eve, leading to a brief date the following evening… well, a date in the loosest sense, as it takes place in a back alley, and like The Flintstones, they’ll be having a gay old time, although it is amusing when he comes home and his parents – his mum being Peggy (Lesley Sharp – Red Eye) – ask him if he had a nice time on his date 😉
Ray is a man of few words, yet is very dominating in this strange “Master and Servant” relationship, such as on another ‘date’ when they go back to Ray’s flat, he just tells Colin to make dinner, then doesn’t let him sit down, or even get in the bed overnight, forcing him to lie on the rug on the ground. And the next day, tells him to come back at 6pm and no earlier… I’ll leave you to discover why.
Plus, in making Colin wear a neck chain, this is clearly the most mismatched relationship since Benjamin and Elaine in The Graduate!
As someone who would never enter into such a relationship, even as a straight man, such a situation comes across as incredibly toxic, although I guess it works for some people. Still, as a film, it’s a well-acted, interesting experience and worth a watch, even though it’ll make you occasionally go “EWWW!” and cause spontaneous inadvertent laughter.
The film also includes an ’80s track, which Shazam picked up as Electricity We Pulsate by Ray Buttigieg and Cykx, but when I found that on Bandcamp, I got something completely different so I guess Shazam was wrong. What I heard in the film was an ’80s-style synth take on a classical music piece. When I find out what it is, I’ll update this review.
NOTE: There are no mid, nor post-credits scenes.
Pillion is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
However, you can buy the novel, Box Hill, on which the film is based.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 107 minutes
Release date: November 28th 2025
Studio: BBC Films
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (ARRIRAW (4.6K), CinemaDNG (8K), Redcode RAW (6K))
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 6/10
Director: Harry Lighton
Producers: Lee Groombridge, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Norton
Screenplay: Harry Lighton
Novel: Adam Mars-Jones
Music: Oliver Coates
Cast:
Ray: Alexander Skarsgård
Colin: Harry Melling
Pete: Douglas Hodge
Peggy: Lesley Sharp
Kevin: Jake Shears
Darren: Anthony Welsh
Biker Billy: Billy King
Malky: Stevie Raine
Chigs: Jake Sharp
Human Puppy: Paul Tallis
Elderly Local: Miranda Bell
Megan: Rosie Sheehy
Rhys: Georgina Hellier
Biker Mike: Mike Jones
Don: Nick Figgis
Biker Kev: Kevin Bazeley
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.