Red Riding: 1980

This entry in the ambitious, dark, and thrilling Red Riding trilogy is the pivotal middle episode of the three films based on the “Yorkshire Ripper,” a serial killer who terrorized northwest England in the 1970s and 1980s. The films’ intertwining storylines follow characters touched by the horror wrought by the Ripper.

Each of the three films tells a compelling stand-alone story but gains additional power when the trilogy is seen as a whole (it originally screened as a Channel 4 series in Britain). Red Riding: 1980 finds the police and the public still baffled and fearful that the “Ripper” remains at large and may have inspired a copycat killer. A veteran police officer, Peter Hunter (Paddy Considine of In America), is called in from Manchester to take over the investigation, but his new theories about the case only incite growing opposition to his involvement. Oscar-winner James Marsh (Man on Wire) directed this episode, which also features David Morrisey (the BBC series State of Play). (96 mins., 35mm)

One of the cinematic events of the year, the Red Riding trilogy offers a mesmerizing neo-noir epic based on actual events and adapted from an electrifying quartet of novels by David Peace. An official selection of the Telluride, New York, Chicago, and AFI Festivals, the trilogy has been acclaimed by critics as a remarkable accomplishment: David Thomson calls it “better than The Godfather.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, the films are “Riveting. A gripping display of modern noir at its finest.” Frieze notes that the trilogy is “Extraordinary. The most striking dramas of this decade.… Exceeds practically anything British cinema has achieved in the past 30 years.”

Don’t miss the other two films in the Red Riding trilogy, which are also playing this week only at Gateway Film Center. Red Riding: 1974 is directed by Julian Jarrold (Brideshead Revisited) and features Andrew Garfield (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings), and Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona).

Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie, Shopgirl) directed Red Riding: 1983, which again features David Morrisey, along with Peter Mullan (Trainspotting), playing a clergyman who has appeared throughout the trilogy.

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Trilogy official trailer:


1980 trailer: