Another nightmare from Australia. This film is a tense and terrifying story about coercion and abuse that is more about suspense and tension than about the disgust and the horror. 

This film like Snowtown walks the line between dramatic thriller and horror film. It follows a married couple in a disturbingly toxic relationship in which they abduct and torture teen girls together for pleasure. 

The film opens in the summer of 1988. It begins with a very interesting slow motion shot of teenaged girls practicing volleyball. It’s not exploitative or leering even though it is from the point of view of the predatory couple at the center of the film. The slow motion creates a sense of innocence about to be lost. Like a moment that is about to be stolen away. We see Evelyn and John White (played by Emma Booth and Stephen Curry respectively.) They pick up a girl walking home, and through the intensity of the sound design we know that nothing good is about to happen to her. 

We then move to Vicki (played by Ashleigh Cummings) She’s struggling with her parents recent separation. She is a typical teenage girl, she has a boyfriend her parents hate, and wants to blow off school work to go party. One night after a fight with her mom Maggie (played by Susie Porter) Vicki sneaks out in order to walk to the party. 

On her walk she is approached by the Whites. We have seen this before. We know nothing good will come of this, but what I love about the film is that it doesn’t hammer home the dread. Too many horror movies would over play this moment, and we’d all be questioning the film. “Why is she getting in the car with these creeps? Does she not sense how weird this is?” The answer here is clear. There’s nothing creepy about them. There’s nothing pushy or off about their interaction. That genuinely makes it much creepier. The fact that they seem this normal is so unsettling. Evil doesn’t show up in a red cape with horns and pitch fork. Evil shows up as a normal person. Evil looks like your neighbors and friends. 

Vicki gets in the car and goes to their house. She wisely waits outside. She is reluctant to enter the house until trust has fully been established. Vicki and Evelyn have a friendly chat and bond. Vicki gets what she came for and is about to leave when she realizes she’s been drugged. 

What follows is almost purely psychological. I was so worried it was going to be an exercise in torture porn. (torture porn is a controversial horror sub-genre characterized by graphic depictions of gore, mutilation, and suffering.) This movie could easily fall into that exploitative subgenera, but the movie skirts that by focusing on the psychology instead of the torture. It’s not about rubbing your nose in the violence, it’s about why and how this violence can happen. The most violent acts happen either off screen or just outside of camera view.

From this point on the point of view shifts slightly from Vicki alone to Vicki and Evelyn. We get to see the dynamic between her and John and we realize that she is also the victim in this horror story. He is manipulative and abusive toward her using affection and the withholding of affection to get her to participate in some nasty and evil acts. 

The legendary filmmaker Val Lewton who made horror movies back in the 1940’s said there was a difference between horror and terror. Basically horror was Jack the Ripper stabbing and eviscerating his victims. Terror was the more insidious feeling. It got under your skin and built up that feeling of fear and unease. This movie forgoes the horror (we never see the worst of the abuse and torture) in favor of the terror (the reality that normal looking people are capable of great evil. The suspense in this film is palpable in every second of the movie. I was on the edge of my proverbial seat waiting for the next awful thing or for something good to finally happen to these victims. 

I have rarely been as tense during a movie as I was during the final scene in which we are waiting endlessly to see if one character will cry out or not. It’s riveting and terrifying. 

This is not for the faint of heart or for the viewing looking for cheap quick thrills. This movie has a lot more to offer than blood and guts and torture. It has a lot to say about trust, abusive relationships, and the nature of evil. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. I don’t know what is up with Australia, but they make some of the most messed up movies ever. 

This is my cup of tea A+