This is the story of Bella, who woke up one morning and realized she'd had enough. All it took was one rather nasty man to transform her from a meek and mild secretary into a murderous femme... Read allThis is the story of Bella, who woke up one morning and realized she'd had enough. All it took was one rather nasty man to transform her from a meek and mild secretary into a murderous femme fatale.This is the story of Bella, who woke up one morning and realized she'd had enough. All it took was one rather nasty man to transform her from a meek and mild secretary into a murderous femme fatale.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe gun shop used in the film was a real shop based in Park Street, St. Albans in Hertfordshire and is still going strong today.
- GoofsAt the country pub when Bella is talking to Mr Brown before he drives away: Bella's shadow on the car shows that the lighting is from the left but in the next shot as Mr Brown drives away the natural shadows are in the opposite direction.
- Alternate versionsAlthough the cinema version was uncut the 1995 video release was cut by 1 min 22 secs by the BBFC to reduce blows from a hammer murder, a man being suffocated with a plastic bag, and suggested shots of oral sex and Bella vomiting during the car park rape scene. The 2006 DVD release features the same cut print.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: Parting Shots (2010)
Featured review
Women are from Venus, men are from, erm, the sewer.
It's difficult to know if Dirty Weekend finds Michael Winner taking the rise out the urine, or if he genuinely feels he had something to say? And what of Helen Zahavi, author of the novel and in charge of the adaptation to screen here? What's her story - motivations et al? It's quite possibly that Helen and Michael at their respective humane cores were a match made in cinematic heaven, but how come Dirty Weekend just feels dirty, lazy dirty at that, a sort of shock for shocks sake as Zahavi gets to curry favour with the feminist movement and Winner gets to be seedy, with murder death kill and the grotesque thrown in for good measure.
Plot, for what it's worth, has dowdy Bella (Lia Williams) suddenly turn into a sexual vamp over night with a blood lust for offing all men who dare to leer and pester. In Brighton, the place of rock, candy floss and degenerate male members of the human race.
It would have been easy to root for Bella had she at the very least had acquaintances or drinks with some normal men, but it's hard to take seriously a film where every single bloke she meets is either troubled mentally, a sexually deviant, has a penchant for serial killing and etc etc. Even her best friend's husband is a milquetoast who probably should have been on Bella's hit list as well!
Winner achieved everything he hoped for with Dirty Weekend, the critics frothed at the mouth, the British censors sharpened their scissors, and crucially the film became a holy grail of uncut home formats for the intrigued and degenerates. It undeniably was shocking back on release, I mean when the broad sheet newspapers of Blighty are dissecting it frame by frame you know it's a fire-cracker piece of cinema.
Rufus Sewell can be forgiven as this is right at the start of his career (he is edgy, nutty and Anthony Perkins like), same for British legend Sean Pertwee, but what is David McCallum's excuse, Ian Richardson also? That Lia Williams is bold and cheeky with her performance saves the film from stinker hell, it's great to note that she carved out a strong career in British TV and still works today.
Hard to recommend and guaranteed to make you angry, but fair play to Winner, boy did he know how to punch buttons! 5/10
Plot, for what it's worth, has dowdy Bella (Lia Williams) suddenly turn into a sexual vamp over night with a blood lust for offing all men who dare to leer and pester. In Brighton, the place of rock, candy floss and degenerate male members of the human race.
It would have been easy to root for Bella had she at the very least had acquaintances or drinks with some normal men, but it's hard to take seriously a film where every single bloke she meets is either troubled mentally, a sexually deviant, has a penchant for serial killing and etc etc. Even her best friend's husband is a milquetoast who probably should have been on Bella's hit list as well!
Winner achieved everything he hoped for with Dirty Weekend, the critics frothed at the mouth, the British censors sharpened their scissors, and crucially the film became a holy grail of uncut home formats for the intrigued and degenerates. It undeniably was shocking back on release, I mean when the broad sheet newspapers of Blighty are dissecting it frame by frame you know it's a fire-cracker piece of cinema.
Rufus Sewell can be forgiven as this is right at the start of his career (he is edgy, nutty and Anthony Perkins like), same for British legend Sean Pertwee, but what is David McCallum's excuse, Ian Richardson also? That Lia Williams is bold and cheeky with her performance saves the film from stinker hell, it's great to note that she carved out a strong career in British TV and still works today.
Hard to recommend and guaranteed to make you angry, but fair play to Winner, boy did he know how to punch buttons! 5/10
- hitchcockthelegend
- Jan 5, 2015
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Kirli Tatil
- Filming locations
- Park Street Lane, Park Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, UK(gun shop sequence)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £10,789,456 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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