Pete's Peek | Move over MacGyver, there's a new kid in town in The Aggression Scale | Movie Talk | What's on TV

Crime boss Reg (Ray Wise) gives hitman Lloyd (Dana Ashbrook) 48-hours to kill a list of people who may have stolen the money he needs to skip the country. Lloyd and his lackeys easily eliminate their first couple of hits, but when their next target is a young family moving into their new home, they meet their match in psychopathic teen Owen (Ryan Hartwig), who was released from a secure mental unit using the stolen money.

Anybody who remembers the TV series MacGyver or those Home Alone movies will get a thrill out of The Aggression Scale as the same kind of gung-ho survivalist skills used in those classics come to play in this violent indie thriller. It might be low on budget, but The Aggression Scale doesn't lack in suspense and creativity – especially in the cat-and-mouse action scenes in which Rambo wannabe Owen and his wimpering wounded sister Lauren (Fabianne Therese) make inventive use a range of homemade weapons, from razor blades to tree branches, to take the thugs down. And its these scenes, in particular, that marks director Steven C Miller as one to watch.

Released 3 September on Blu-ray and DVD through Anchor Bay Entertainment

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