Australian horror films

I find sun-drenched kind of creepy - it is a desert country and is harsh and unforgiving. The beginning of Walkabout before David Gulpilil turns up features drunk John Mellion driving his kids into the bush and attempting a murder suicide. It disturbed me utterly.

Very true [R1] - that is an amazing movie. But I think it's a European film set in Australia. IIRC the director was Nicholas Roeg.

Thinking it over it seems that a version of "The Shining" could be made in Australia, if the resort was near a natural landmark but otherwise remote and set in dangerous countryside. Baking desert could be even more inhospitable than snowy mountains. And you could swap out the Native American undercurrent for aboriginal Australians...

Of course I'm not sure where you'd find the 300-room Art Deco hotel.

I always considered "Picnic At Hanging Rock" to be a horror film. There was such a sense of menace going on in that atmosphere, so creepy and disturbing.

Wolf Creek scared the holy crap out of me.

Asian horror sucks compared to WOLF CREEK, THE BABADOOK, the SAW franchise or PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK.

Just because Asia might have more horror movies doesn't mean they're better. Asian horror is just a bunch of non-committal, cryptic ghost stories that the victims can't fight or understand.

A classic of world cinema:

The Saw franchise is Australian?

Whatever it is, it sucks.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is indeed a masterpiece.

SAW movies may have been shot and bankrolled in North America.

But its creators James Wan and Leigh Wannell are from Australia. James Wan is now a big mogul -- directing AQUAMAN and producing a SWAMP THING TV show.

There are some 'shark themed' horror movies, like Bait and The Reef

Peter Jackson is from New Zealand and his early horror comedies kick ass!

Dead Alive AKA Brain Dead:

Speaking of Leigh Whannell:

OP, what did you think of Midsommar? Completely sundrenched and colorful.

Anyone remember sexy Eric Bana in CHOPPER? Star-making performance.

It's better to think of the MAD MAX movies as Science Fiction or Action-Adventure.

But the first couple of MAD MAX movies scared the shit out of me as a kid:

LITTLE MONSTERS with Lupita Nyongo is getting good notices this year. I haven't seen it yet.

No love for Lake Mungo around here, you tasteless whores?! That film is unlike any other horror films I've seen so far. Because there are no big names in it and because the performances are all so brilliant you actually have a feeling you're watching a real life documentary on some random Aussie family, not a mock one. And it also contains of the creepiest movie moments ever.

Next of Kin and Lake Mungo are great.

A 1981 movie with Jamie Lee Curtis and Stacy Keach called "Road Games" is good. It's not really a horror movie, but more of a psychological thriller.

The scene where Keach is in the diner and they do a 360 degree pan around the diner as he's on the phone is creepy. It makes you feel like you want to get the hell out of there the way everyone is eyeing him as he's watching them.

Road Games is pretty good. Aussie horror films aren't always great. For every Road Games or Next of Kin, there's a Snapshot or Nightmares. Those are pretty dull.

Have you seen "The Dreaming" R21? I saw it decades ago on VHS tape and have never seen it again.

That crocodile movie with the woman from And Then There Were None who used to date a Somersault-era Sam Worthington... the name is escaping me...

I always thought "Thirst" was the most famous Aussie horror movie but most people don't know it.

"Next Of Kin" is pretty good as is "Alison's Birthday"

The Aussie's were great at doing nightmarish psychological horror as opposed to standard slasher movies.

Years ago Showcase here in Canada used to show a lot of old Australian movies.

Nicole Kidman's Dead Calm was entertaing horror. And M's A Cry in the Dark was considered Kafkarsque horror of a misunderstood housefrau too.

[quote]That crocodile movie with the woman from And Then There Were None who used to date a Somersault-era Sam Worthington... the name is escaping me...

The actress is Maeve Dermody and the movie is [bold]Black Water[/bold] (2007). I watched it earlier this year and found it to be pretty good.

Another good Australian killer croc movie is [bold]Rogue[/bold] (also 2007), directed by Greg McLean ([bold]Wolf Creek[/bold]) and starring Radha Mitchell, Michael Vartan & Sam Worthington.

Allison's Birthday is kind of dull, but it's pretty well made for a Rosemary's Baby ripoff.

I did enjoy The Long Weekend.

R9 sadly Swamp Thing got cancelled.

R18 I found Lake Mungo more depressing than scary.

A lot of horror fans really like The Loved Ones - I thought it was ok but nothing amazing.

Wolf Creek is scary because it's so plausible.

The Cars That Ate Paris.

Not really a horror, but Ghosts of the Civil Dead is one of the most unsettling films I have ever seen. It's not a supernatural thriller, it's a dystopian drama set in a maximum-security desert prison and stars Nick Cave and a mix of professional actors and real-life ex-cons. It's queasy and claustrophobic.

Would either CUT SNAKE or WAKE IN FRIGHT be considered horror? Or maybe they are suspense thrillers?

Quentin Tarantino talks about the Australian horror movie 'Patrick' and the influence the Oz genre had on his movies.

Road Games.

The two previous videos are taken from the documentary "Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation" It's worth tracking down if you're a fan of the genre.

Long Weekend with sexy John Hargreaves - who was gay and died of AIDS.

I love nature horror and this is one of the creepiest.

The Loved Ones was pretty good.

I didn't like Wolf Creek. Yes, it's creepy, but it feels contaminated because it's partially based on true events. It and Snowtown more so are just too unpleasant to sit through for the sake of entertainment, because they actually happened. I'm surprised Claremont serial killer doesn't have a movie in the works.

The Howling III: The Marsupials; is surprisingly well done. It does a good job of capturing the perverse humor of the original, unlike the other sequels.