Control

Budapest's ticket inspectors are the Millwall of the Hungarian capital's underground system - nobody loves them and they don't care.

Led by the taciturn Bulcsu (Cysani), the unsavoury crew slip on their armbands and cause mayhem among hapless commuters on the city's southern line.

Constant fare-dodging targets include the fat pimp with his colourful retinue of hookers and the ticketless indie kid who constantly gives the pursuing inspectors the slip.

When they are not skirmishing with the general public, the ticket-punchers maintain a constant squabble with a crew of inspectors on the same circuit.

However, against this backdrop of mayhem beneath the streets, a killer is on the loose, hurtling unsuspecting passengers beneath the wheels of subway trains.

Debut director Nimrod Antal has created a fascinating world beneath the streets but loses sight of his characters as events take ever increasingly bizarre turns.

Bulcsu - a smouldering individual who hides an intriguing past - holds the attention but the narrative unspools into a loose free-for-all after being kept on a tight leash.

Visually, the film succeeds with Antal evoking the dripping claustrophobia and dark mystery of deserted subway tunnels and what lingers within.

But some of the humour - mockery of speech impediments and the deaf - appear to have made the journey from a 70s British sitcom while the Euro disco soundtrack intrudes rather than complements.

It all hits the buffers in the final reel but fans of gothic horror could do worse than get an all-zones ticket.

Tim Evans