The Cottage

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Paul Andrew Williams directs. Christopher Ross behind the camera. Tom Hemmings cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English, Polish, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 18 years ago.
• 2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Polish, French.
• 3Directed by Paul Andrew Williams, shot by Christopher Ross. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Editor Tom Hemmings shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith and Jennifer Ellison carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "Sleeps Six Bloody Comfortably".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0465430 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Christopher Ross

Editing

Tom Hemmings

Production design

Crispian Sallis

Costume design

Marianne Agertoft

Makeup / hair

Jacqueline Fowler

Stunt coordinator

Gareth Milne

Runtime

92 min · 1h 32m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

IMDB

The Cottage (2008) ↗

Also by

Paul Andrew Williams

• 
  Broadchurch

  2013 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Murdered by My Boyfriend

  2014 · ★ 7.3
• 
  A Confession

  2019 · ★ 7.1
• 
  Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes

  2025 · ★ 7.1
• 
  The Walk-In

  2022 · ★ 7.0
• 
  Song for Marion

  2012 · ★ 6.8

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Cottage Trailer - In UK Cinemas 14th March - Pathe

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2014-09-06
  ★ 8/10

  It's a comedy with bite, right to the end. Two brothers, David & Peter, kidnap Tracey, the daughter of local tough guy gangster Arnie, they hold her to ransom for the sum of £100,000. What they hadn't bargained into the equation is that Tracey is one tough feisty lady, and that a turn of events will lead them to something far more scary than big bad gangster Arnie. This is the second feature from director Paul Andrew Williams, and bearing in mind that his debut effort was the highly lauded gritty drama London To Brighton, it's no surprise to find that some folk are a little bemused as to the genre splicing nature of The Cottage. The Cottage is far more in keeping with Christopher Smith's 2006 horror comedy, Severance, and certainly it wouldn't be out of place as a double bill with that criminally undervalued picture. Very much a film of two halves, this picture is likely to prove a very divisive piece, and it will (has) only find an audience based on word of mouth alone. You will be hard pressed to find any sort of press marketing that will prepare you for the type of genre fusion film you are getting. Already, based on the comments written on this site thus far, you can see that some people were confused (or annoyed) by the tonal shift for the second half of the film. The first half sees poles apart brothers, David & Peter, swapping comedy dialogue as they whisk through a number of exchanges and circumstances with the marvellously volatile Tracey. While the second part of the picture hits you over the head with a quick switch to horror formula that has catering fulfilment for the gore junkies amongst us. And this is where the problem lies with many, why didn't the film stay as a kidnap farce? Why didn't it set its stall out to be a horror film from the off? There is no denying that the films' high points come with the horror moments, but the film is first and foremost a comedy, from the first reel to the cheeky end of credits sequence it is what it is. As deliciously sick as the gore shift is, The Cottage never once takes its tongue out of its bloody cheek. It's obvious that Paul Andrew Williams is having fun here, and he is clearly hoping his audience will as well. View it as an all encompassing comedy/horror/thriller in that order and you wont go far wrong. Andy Serkis plays David, the tough brother of the two, with Serkis doing a wonderful line in both visual and vocal comedy. This benefits Reece Shearsmith as Peter, a character so far under the thumb he can barely be seen. Shearsmith feeds off of Serkis to seal the comedy deal for this odd brotherly couple. British tabloid fave Jennifer Ellison plays Tracey, literally swearing for England to have the audience divided as to if they want her to survive or not! But it's a gutsy show from her and one hopes she ventures into this territory a bit more often. There is nothing new or fresh here, and this wont win any awards; even in its homeland of England, but it is FUN and it shows a director intent on making films from different genres. 8/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• ST

  Steel Mill Pictures

• 

  Isle of Man Film

  GB

• 

  UK Film Council

  GB

• 

  Screen Yorkshire

  GB

Key crew

• EditorTom Hemmings
• ProducerMartin Pope
• CastingTania Polentarutti
• Costume DesignMarianne Agertoft
• Hair DesignerJacqueline Fowler
• Makeup DesignerJacqueline Fowler
• Makeup Effects DesignerPaul Hyett
• Prosthetic Makeup ArtistKristyan Mallett
• ProstheticsRod Hamlin
• ProstheticsConal Palmer
• ProstheticsRebecca Cain
• Prosthetic SupervisorStuart Conran
• Special Effects Makeup ArtistDan Frye
• First Assistant DirectorJoe Geary
• Second Assistant DirectorTom White
• Third Assistant DirectorJulie Heskin
• CarpenterSteve Dawson
• CarpenterBrian Eatough
• CarpenterBryan Pollard
• CarpenterKevin White
• Construction ManagerPeter Johnson
• Construction ManagerGraham Thomas
• Dressing PropAndy Ludford
• Dressing PropToby Troyna

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• countryside
• ransom
• hostage
• cottage
• farmer
• deformed

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2008-04-29

Also known as

International titles

• Bienvenue au cottageBE
• Bienvenue au cottageFR
• КоттеджRU