Story Overview

Shallow Grave follows three flatmates—Juliet ( Kerry Fox ), David ( Christopher Eccleston ) and Alex ( Ewan McGregor )—who are struggling to find a suitable tenant for their spare room in their Edinburgh flat. After interviewing a succession of unsuitable applicants, they finally welcome Hugo ( Keith Allen ), a charismatic and affluent writer, into their home. However, the next day they discover Hugo dead in his room, along with a suitcase full of cash. Faced with the shocking situation, the trio decide to keep the money and dispose of the body. Their initial plan to conceal the death and avoid responsibility soon spirals into paranoia, tension and moral conflict. As each of them becomes increasingly suspicious of the others, their friendship begins to unravel, and events escalate beyond anything they could have imagined.

The film’s darkly comic tone and escalating suspense explore themes of greed, betrayal and the psychological toll of crime. Underneath its grim premise lies a sharp character study of three very different personalities pushed to their limits by temptation—and the terrible cost of their choices.