Here we have another Australian horror film and if this one is on par with The Loved Ones then Australia is definitely on to something in the horror genre. This 2007 survival horror is directed by Jamie Blanks who also directed 1998's Urban Legend. Blanks also supplied the musical score for the film as well. The movie stars virtually unknowns (at least to us here in The States) namely Nadia Feres and Robert Taylor who play Pia and Rob; a 40-ish yuppie couple (are they still called "yuppies"?) who rent a small boat in order to go out for a day of fishing. As soon as they have caught one fish things start to go down hill from there.
As the two travel through unknown waters (at least to them it's unknown) and enter a marshy area a storm blows in. They of course get lost as the water turns shallow forcing them to no longer use the motor so instead they have to resort to paddling. They tie the boat up and decide to start hoofing it back on land but far away from civilization. Day turns to night as they walk through the brush and find a dirt road where they can see headlights just up ahead. They see someone get thrown from the car and a fight begins. Pia and Rob decide to turn around and soon they find a large farm house complete with old windmill and scarecrow. Did I forget to mention the steer skull that is hung at the top of the fence? Yeah, there's one of them too. The farmhouse seems to be empty so the decide to go inside to get out of the storm. The place is a massive pig sty and Rob quickly goes to look for a phone and leaves Pia in the living room with a blow up sex doll.
Inside a shed on the back of the property Rob finds a bunch of marijuana plants as the homeowners arrive back at their humble abode. This, as you could guess, is when the shit begins to hit the fan. The family consists of Jimmy and Brett who are redneck sociopaths and their father, Poppy who is the worst of the bunch. Poppy is played by John Brumpton who starred as "Daddy" in The Loved Ones. Guess he had a penchant for playing crazy homicidal maniacs in Australian horror movies and it turns out he does it really really well so who am I to complain. After Poppy and his boys break Rob's leg Pia decides the job of survival falls on her shoulders and she begins to take matters into her own hands as she turns the barn they are being held hostage in into one booby trap after another. Rob helps as much as he can but let's face it even without the broken leg he wasn't going to be much help.
This turns out to be the little horror movie that could. For a low budget film it looks anything but. Besides Blanks doing a great job with the music the mood and atmosphere is beautifully gloomy. So much menace as the tension builds throughout the film so much so that for me it gets to be uncomfortable at times. The special effects, all of which are the blood and gore type, are done quite well with some of it needing to be seen to be believed. In fact when I think about it, it's hard to find much fault with anything in this little hidden gem. OK, so it takes a little bit of time to get going however at 86 minutes you soon forget the first fifteen aren't as good as the final seventy ramp up and doesn't stop until the credits roll. Think if Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverance had a child this would be that movie child. Another great Australian horror flick. When did Australia get so good at horror movies? The Horror Honey and I both give this 4 Blow Up Sex Dolls out of 5!
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