Dying Breed
| Year: | 2008 |
| Production Co: | Ambience Entertainment |
| Director: | Jody Dwyer |
| Writer: | Jody Dwyer |
| Cast: | Leigh Whannell, Nathan Phillips |
Taking us into horror territory that's both familiar (wild, forgotten corner of the world where horrible things happen) and fresh (it's in our own backyard), Australia's own Deliverance combines two very iconic mystery elements from our national past.
The first is the Tasmanian Tiger, which boyfriend and girlfriend research team Matt (Leigh Saw Whannell) and Nina go in search of in the misty Tasmanian backwoods. Along for the ride are Matt's obnoxious mate Jack (Nathan Wolf Creek Phillips) and his girlfriend, but they don't know that another Aussie icon lurks in the darkness - ancestors of Alexander Pearce, the convict who escaped into the wild from the British penal settlement and survived by eating his co-conspirators.
When the foursome stumble on a small forest town straight out of the 1950s and populated with weirdos (including the obligatory scary kid), they don't realise there are traditions the locals keep very much alive.
Dying Breed's a well-made and very good-looking film, but it shies away from cashing in directly on the strength of its twin hooks and loses some sense of the genre for its trouble, ending up less a traditional popcorn horror film and more a dark mystery with horror elements.
The first is the Tasmanian Tiger, which boyfriend and girlfriend research team Matt (Leigh Saw Whannell) and Nina go in search of in the misty Tasmanian backwoods. Along for the ride are Matt's obnoxious mate Jack (Nathan Wolf Creek Phillips) and his girlfriend, but they don't know that another Aussie icon lurks in the darkness - ancestors of Alexander Pearce, the convict who escaped into the wild from the British penal settlement and survived by eating his co-conspirators.
When the foursome stumble on a small forest town straight out of the 1950s and populated with weirdos (including the obligatory scary kid), they don't realise there are traditions the locals keep very much alive.
Dying Breed's a well-made and very good-looking film, but it shies away from cashing in directly on the strength of its twin hooks and loses some sense of the genre for its trouble, ending up less a traditional popcorn horror film and more a dark mystery with horror elements.