A British film that's not afraid to punch above its weight, The Principles Of Lust has been quietly touted as Blighty's answer to Fight Club, though it's actually nothing like David Fincher's schizophrenic masterpiece. Instead, this tale of a novelist who's drawn into a dark subculture of sex, drugs, and bare-knuckle kiddie fighting is a fascinating failure that scores points for being bold enough to go against the grain.

In Sheffield, on the dole novelist Paul (Alec Newman) literally bumps into Billy (Marc Warren) in a car crash. Offering to buy Paul a drink, Billy takes him to a nearby strip club in a rundown pub. Intrigued by this back room environment of easy sex and plentiful drugs, Paul is gradually lured into Billy's world and becomes fascinated by his new friend's involvement with brutal bare-knuckle fighting competitions where 11-year-old boys batter each other senseless. Risking everything - including his relationship with unimpressed girlfriend Juliette (Sienna Guillory) - Paul decides to take a walk on the wild side...

"EDGY, DARK ATMOSPHERE"

Likely to cause a stir because of its explicit scenes of orgies and coke snorting, what really separates The Principles Of Lust from the crowd is its edgy, dark atmosphere that combines conventional Hollywood thrillers about sociopaths - eg Fight Club, Bad Influence - with a distinctly British, rough and ready feel.

Firing on all cylinders, debut feature director Penny Woolcock - who once made waves with the Channel 4 drama Tina Goes Shopping - delivers a film that's too insistent on being distinctive and dream-like to really hold together as a coherent drama. Instead, it joins a select group of recent low-budget British cinema - from The Last Great Wilderness to This Is Not A Love Song - that dares to say no to the conventions of Hollywood filmmaking while damning the consequences.