REMNANT

Stars: Megan Bell, Isabelle Weiskopf, Nicole Pritchard, Shaun Robert Foley, Tsu Shan Chambers, Remi Webster and Martin Ashley Jones.
Writer/Director: Mike Horan

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ½

 Available to view via the Seattle Film Festival online portal until June 13th 2024.

Ghosts abound in Mike Horan’s low-budget/high-concept creepshow Remnant, none more so than those of Alfred Hitchcock, George Romero and (metaphorically, at time of writing) Brian De Palma. The Australian filmmaker is not the first storyteller to draw upon the master’s of cinematic psychosis and paranoia to craft a tale of madness, murder and fractured memory. But few have so effectively achieved what Horan manages, whose low-budget but legitimately menacing descent into dream-logic terror is infused with the DNA of the elevated genre films that have gone before.

From its first frames, in which clouds swirl and fields of wheat sway wildly, we understand Horan's narrative will lean heavily into a stylised, not-entirely-real reality. The opening minutes recount the near-death experience of Grace (a terrific Megan Bell, Horan’s ‘Hitchcock blonde’ ingenue; pictured, top) as she stumbles in confused panic through a bushland setting populated by strange little boys, stabby psychos and ethereal apparitions. 

Grace has barely survived a car accident, the details of which will emerge as she recovers at her homestead retreat, where Dr. Stone (Tsu Shan Chambers), the brilliant surgeon who utilised cutting-edge neuro-surgery to save Grace, can covertly watch her patient/guinea pig heal and adapt.

In his convoluted story mix, Horan also melds a slasher origin narrative and a friendship drama (featuring co-star Isabelle Weiskopf in a strong support turn), which proves a few too many subplots for the film to juggle entirely successfully. There is an admirable commitment to fleshing out Grace’s character in the first act, but genre fans will fidget through some wordy exposition; at 112 minutes, the post-production decision-makers might have afforded their final cut another pass.

That said, those same fans are in for a treat come the thriller’s second half. As Grace takes back control of her life and faces off against her demons, imagined and literal, the director, editor Andrew Davis and DOP Mason Grady amp up the horror elements in a vividly cinematic style that Hitch and De Palma would appreciate. An extended, multi-character showdown filmed at the historic Regent Theatre in the New South Wales town of Mudgee is a tour de force, exhibiting just how much can be achieved on a meagre budget when a commitment to the art and craft of genre filmmaking is on show.

A mid-credit sequence pivots Grace’s journey into the realm of body-horror sci fi, which feels like the final genre box to tick given all that has gone before. It underlines that Remnant is an ambitious mix of B-movie beats from a filmmaker who clearly loves films; a strong calling-card project that will alert fans and commercially-minded producers that a new voice spinning his take on old standards has emerged. 

CHRISTMESS

Stars: Steve Le Marquand, Darren Gilshenan, Hannah Joy, Nicole pastor, Aaron Glenane, Damien Nixey and Kya Stewart.
Writer/Director: Heath Davis.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

For an auteur whose trajectory as a character-driven storyteller continues to rise, Heath Davis understands the voice of the fallen everyman with remarkable insight. Across three self-penned features, his lead characters have been men whose lives have peaked without their knowledge and who lean into their inner demons for support on the downward slide. From the football star recovering from a gambling addiction in Broke (2016) to the sarcastic novelist self-medicating his way through a sophomore slump in Book Week (2018), Davis writes about people who are at a moment when personal redemption is within reach, but so is a further fall.

In the bittersweet world of Davis’ latest, Christmess, that tarnished idol is Chris Flint (a terrific Steve Le Marquand, pictured above, reteaming with his Broke director). Chris is a Silver Logie-winning celebrity once so in demand that, in one of the film’s more eccentric revelations, he once acted in a gay love scene with Chris O’Donnell. But Flint’s fame is long gone; substance abuse has led to an extended period in rehab. Upon release, his agent fails to materialise for the promised car ride, meaning Chris has to schlep across Sydney’s western suburban sprawl in the blistering summer heat. A new life beckons, but the first stop is a halfway house…just in time for Christmas.

The comedy/drama framework is at its firmest within the home’s red brick-veneered walls, where Davis’ three-hander character work comes to life. Providing Chris’ new moral compass is sponsor Nick (Darren Gilshenan), a man committed to righting the tragic wrongs of his own past by keeping his charges on a spiritually-focussed road to recovery. Sharing the space is lively wannabe starlet Joy (Middle Kids’ lead singer Hannah Joy, pictured below, in a star-making support turn), with whom Chris develops a sweet bond. Scenes between the three are often staged around the most mundane co-living moments - cooking and cleaning roster; house rules - but with all three living the recovering addict’s mantra ‘one day at a time’, their small moments together carry dramatic weight.

Chris nails down a gig as a mall Santa, an initially hopeful development until a chance encounter with his estranged daughter, Noelle (Nicole Pastor) leads to a very unSanta-like public moment. Chris’ desire to reconnect with his adult child becomes the emotional core of the film, a reminder that this time of the year for many people is not the happiest on the calendar. One of the filmmaker’s strengths is that he can warmly convey empathy and optimism yet, as captured in the final moments of his latest, not forgo real-world truths in favour of seasonal sentimentality.

There is no doubt that Heath Davis has made a Christmas film (just look at those character names), but it is one from an addict’s perspective; from the point-of-view of a damaged man and his friends, each in need of that ‘miracle’ that the season promises and, in most December films, delivers. But Christmess is less a feel-good film and more a ‘just-feel-something’ film. The 25th is just another day for Chris, perhaps a little bit better than the 24th, and Davis helps us understand that is a good day for his fallen star.

VIOLETT

Stars: Georgia Eyers, Angela Punch McGregor, Sam Dudley, Valentina Blagojevic, Simon Lockwood, Mani Shanks, Kingsley Judd, Jay Jay Jegathesan and Suzi Aleqaby.
Writer/Director: Steven J. Mihaljevic

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

VIOLETT is the Closing Night feature at The 2023 A Night of Horror International Film Festival. For session details, click here.

Steven J. Mihaljevic displays a true auteur’s vision in his second feature, the dark psychological drama Violett. A grieving mother spirals deeper into her own inner darkness when she employs familiar imagery from her missing daughter’s past to help cope with her misery. But the images she conjures are filtered through her rage and desperation, resulting in a nightmarish modern fairy tale that the Perth filmmaker presents in pitch black shadows, rich primary colours and brilliantly-realised bleakness.

As Sonya, the young mother struggling to define the line between shattered reality and corrosive insanity, Georgia Eyers delivers a star-making performance of achingly tangible anguish. Her face a pall of ashen anxiety, her eyes hollowed by corrosive sadness, Eyers (having worked with her director on his debut feature, The Xrossing) crafts a potent examination of guilt-ridden remorse. The actress has a lock on ‘shattered young woman’ roles at present, with her empathetic performance in Nick Kozakis’ Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism also gaining great notices.

Not unlike how Neil Jordan adapted the ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ story to evoke complex adult themes in his cult classic The Company of Wolves, so too does Mihaljevic borrow from dark fairy tale iconography to portray his take on Sonya’s grief. Most arresting of all his twisted visions is Jay Jay Jegathesan’s street artist monster ‘Victor’, fashioned on Australian kid-TV favourite Mr Squiggle. Also certain to haunt audiences is Simon Lockwood’s hideous The Candy Man, whose finger-food specialty is the stuff of nightmares.  

While not quite a ‘Keyser Soze’-size final reel rug-pull, Mihaljevic certainly shows a brazen confidence in how he plays out his narrative, in a move that adds further depth and dimension to his leading lady’s performance. The other key contributors are DOP Shane Piggott, whose emotive use of bold colour and sodden blackness is exquisite, and Australian acting legend Angela Punch McGregor, a towering presence in an all-too-rare big screen role.

AVARICE

Stars: Gillian Alexy, Luke Ford, Nick Atkinson, Ryan Panizza, Alexandra Nell, Alexander Fleri, Tom O’Sullivan, Campbell Greenock, Priscilla-Anne Jacob and Téa Heathcote-Marks.
Writers: Adam Enslow , Dane Millerd, Andrew Slattery and John V. Soto.
Director: John V. Soto

Rating: ★ ★ ★

A rocky marriage finds some stabilising shared goals when faced with a brutal home invasion plot in John V. Soto’s slick, enjoyably compelling action/thriller, Avarice. The latest punchy piece of exportable genre entertainment from the Perth-based director delivers on the promise of his pics to date (The Gateway, 2018; The Reckoning, 2014; Needle, 2010); films that don’t reinvent the wheel but that do spin it with skill and energy.

A terrific Gillian Alexy stars as Kate, a top-tier archer with eyes on competition glory but who is also struggling to keep her marriage together. Similarly work focussed, her partner Ash (Luke Ford) is finding himself increasingly sidelined as Kate focusses on athletic goals, a disconnect that teen daughter Sarah (Téa Heathcote-Marks) is beginning to rebel against. Husband and wife decide that a weekend in their upmarket bushland retreat will perhaps positively refocus the family dynamic.

That begins to seem unlikely as a group of elite mercenaries seize control of the home with eyes on Ash’s hefty bank balance. Developments get very Die Hard-y, with Ash umming-and-ahhing about the codes that will complete the transfer, while Kate dons her trusty bow-and-arrow and begins whittling down the invader’s numbers. There are further twists in the narrative’s third act that will placate fans of the single-setting thriller, with Soto also channelling such influences as David Fincher’s Panic Room (2002) and Luis Mandoki’s underseen thriller Trapped (2002), with Charlize Theron.

The bad guys/girl ensemble are an attractively mean-spirited bunch, with Alexandra Nell and Ryan Panizza in particular upping the stakes through their snarling menace alone. Web nerds may get a bit giggly over the apparent ease with which a multi-million dollar account is accessed, but it isn't the first thriller to cut tech corners. The moments that Soto and his pro team of contributors make work - solid character acting, pacy action moments and arrow-on-antagonist payback - make Avarice another mid-budget milestone for the filmmaker.

TRUE SPIRIT

Stars: Teagan Croft, Cliff Curtis, Anna Paquin, Josh Lawson, Todd Lasance, Alyla Browne, Bridget Webb, Stacy Clausen and Freya Callaghan.
Writers: Rebecca Banner, Cathy Randall and Sarah Spillane; based on the book True Spirit: The Aussie Girl Who Took On The World by Jessica Watson
Director: Sarah Spillane.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Since 2010, when the then 16 year-old defied every naysayer and some of the planet’s harshest conditions to become the youngest person to complete a solo, unassisted and non-stop trip around the world, Jessica Watson has remained a devout advocate for self-belief and goal-oriented living. Named the 2011 Young Australian of the Year, she has spent the best part of the last decade instilling in a generation of young people the will and drive to make dreams come true.

Director Sarah Spillane’s adaptation of Watson’s bestselling memoir instils a similarly aspirational tone, while hitting all the beats that those familiar with the adventurer’s journey will expect. With ace DOP Danny Ruhlmann in peak form, Spillane’s second feature (after 2013’s Around the Block, with Christina Ricci) exhibits a strong cinematic flair that demands you see True Spirit on the big screen, during its brief local theatrical window (it hits Netflix on February 3); a sequence against the night sky and set to Bowie’s ‘Starman’ is especially breathtaking. Her collaboration with Oscar-nominated editor Veronika Jenet (The Piano, 1993; Rabbit Proof Fence, 2002) is also top-tier, with the criss-crossing flashback/present day narratives meshing flawlessly.

As the sailor driven by a yearning to connect with the planet’s great watery expanse, Teagan Croft delivers a revelatory central performance. From the unshakeable realisation that the world’s oceans are her calling to the psychologically debilitating loneliness on becalmed seas to the life-threatening storm fronts that batter her physically, Croft embodies all that we have come to understand about the remarkable person that is Jessica Watson. It is a star-making turn for the young actress, whose potent screen appeal and ability to convey both fragility and fortitude in key moments represents a rare acting commodity.

Some dramatic licence is afforded the ‘family and friends’ support network that Watson drew upon before and during her voyage. Josh Lawson’s portrayal of father Roger Watson conveys a level of anxiety that has been tempered from the real-life version; the family patriarch was very vocally at odds with her daughter tackling the journey. A terrific Cliff Curtis plays Jessica’s spiritually-aligned mentor Ben Bryant, a wholly fictional construct by Spillane and co-writers Rebecca Banner and Cathy Randall that represents several guiding figures in the sailing community who helped prepare the teenager. Also conjured are scenes invoking a pre-teen Jessica’s early focus and conviction, brought to life by the radiant and commanding Alyla Browne.

Jessica Watson is that rarest of iconic archetypes - a person so flesh-and-blood real as to be instantly relatable, yet a heroic figure whose accomplishments are unlikely to ever be rivalled. That is a tough combination to capture and convey in a film, especially when so many details are already indelibly etched in a nation’s conscience. Yet Sarah Spillane and Teagan Croft have pulled off the adventurer’s story with all its bewildering reality and existential joy intact. The production not only deeply respects her seafaring accomplishments, but also the legacy it has afforded her name.

THE COST

Stars: Jordan Fraser-Trumble, Damon Hunter, Kevin Dee, Clayton Watson and Nicole Pastor.
Writers: Matthew Holmes and Gregory Moss.
Director: Matthew Holmes.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ½

Reviewed at Monster Fest Sydney on Saturday December 10 at Event Cinemas George Street.

Two men grieving the loss of their beloved wife/sister at the hands of murdering rapist decide to unleash their own brand of vengeance in director Matthew Holmes’ morally problematic dramatic thriller, The Cost. This superbly acted, compellingly staged study in vigilante psychology will be too grey-shaded for some, who may interpret the narrative trajectory as a pro-argument for personal justice; others, with an ‘eye for an eye’ perspective on criminal punishment, will lap up scenes of brutal payback.

Widower David (Jordan Fraser-Trumble; top, right) and sibling Aaron (Damon Hunter; top, centre) have planned with premeditated cunning the abduction of sad loner Troy (Kevin Dee). Seizing him late one night, the steely-eyed kidnappers head deep into the Australian bush, where they make their motivations and intentions clear - the 10 years that Troy served for the sexual assault and killing of Stephanie (Nicole Pastor, in flashback; below) is nowhere near sufficient retribution for his coldhearted homicidal impulses.

Early indications that Holmes’ follow-up to his bushranger hagiography The Legend of Ben Hall will be little more than Oz torture-porn dissipate as skilfully layered back story is revealed. Developments that will have the more thoughtful genre audience pondering address the role that sentencing and non-parole periods play in meeting survivor expectations; the ages-old ‘let the punishment fit the crime’ argument; and what, if anything, stops the vigilante becoming the same horribly myopic killer that he deems unworthy for life.

It is the ‘He’ in that last sentence that most resonates. David and Aaron are two middle-class white males, a social status that comes with an ingrained sense of entitlement (search ‘vigilante films’, and you mostly see actors like Clint Eastwood, Kevin Sorbo, Tom Berenger, Jim Belushi, Steven Seagal, Bruce Willis, Nicholas Cage and Mel Gibson). Holmes and co-writer Gregory Moss construct protagonists that willingly accept the righteousness in acting above the judicial structure (Troy has been caught, prosecuted and sentenced fully in the eyes of our legal system). This imbues their ‘justice for Stephanie’ renegade with a false logic and own dangerous mental instability. 

The ‘vigilante anti-hero’ sub-genre that allows for unlawful punishment to seem justified works best in a lawless setting, be that literally (Mad Max, 1979; The Star Chamber, 1983) or figuratively (Taxi Driver, 1976; Munich, 2005). There’s a great deal of integrity and complexity in The Cost, but also a healthy dose of genre DNA that aligns it with the ugliness of Charles Bronson’s blackhearted Death Wish films. It will be in the post-screening discussions and what it exposes in those who seek it out that the real value of the film will emerge.

POKER FACE

Stars: Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth, RZA, Brooke Satchwell, Aden Young, Steve Bastoni, Daniel McPherson, Paul Tassone, Elsa Pataky, Jack Thompson, Matt Nable, Benedict Hardie and Molly Grace.
Writer: Russell Crowe; based upon a story and original screenplay by Stephen M. Coates.
Director: Russell Crowe

Rating: ★ ½

A national treasure, of course (whether that nation be Australia or New Zealand, who knows) but it’s been quite a while since Russell Crowe has been the central creative force behind a half-decent film. 

He has done giggly cameos in Thor: Love and Thunder, The Greatest Beer Run Ever and The Mummy, had some villainous fun chewing all the scenery in Unhinged and, was fine in a well-written support part in Boy Erased. But in real terms, his last good lead was 2016’s The Nice Guys (in which he played straight man to Ryan Gosling) and before that…probably, 2014’s Noah.

Given the career trajectory in which Crowe seems to be willingly hurtling, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Poker Face reeks like it does. With its alpha-male banter and millionaire’s playground vibe, his second film as a director (remember The Water Diviner?) is a genre hodgepodge - sometimes a Usual Suspects-type narrative puzzle, sometimes a fist-shake ode to mateship, all cut-and-pasted together with a slick shallowness that aspires to be at least Michael Bay, at best Ridley Scott (from whom Crowe had no less than five films on which to be mentored, and clearly wasn’t).

The film starts with a bush-set ‘70’s-era prologue in which five tight lads outwit a local bully in an impromptu poker showdown. Jumpcut to the present, by way of a self-indulgent sequence at a new-agey ‘wellness retreat’ overseen by an Obi-wan-esque Jack Thompson; wealthy tech magnate Jake (Crowe) has gathered those same boyhood friends for some high-stakes Texas Hold ‘em. Each is offered an enticement - keep the expensive designer wheels they arrived in, or play cards with $5 million house credit. Each has some backstory (though why Liam Hemsworth is hanging out with these much older men is never addressed), but…well, there’s your movie, right?

Sadly, no. Instead, we get subplot after subplot, each so diverting that Poker Face is soon careening off course -  a cancer diagnosis, unwanted pop-ins by family members, long passages of sensitive-male soul-searching (brought on by a ‘truth serum poison’, ffs) and an attempted art heist. So flawed is the structure that it may, in fact, be a homage to ‘80s-era straight-to-video dreck, so perfectly does it capture that sub-genre’s faux-macho posturing, bewilderingly silly plotting and retrograde use of women in support parts (Elsa Pataky’s chest gets a close-up before her face, so you’ve got that to look forward to, ladies). 

Crowe can’t claim disparate creative visions were at fault here. In addition to his derivative, uninspired direction, he reworked Stephen M. Coates’ script, affording the writer a ‘story’ and ‘original screenplay’ credit, but claiming his own ‘Screenplay by…’ and, in the icing on the vanity project cake, contributed five musical compositions. 

Local streamer Stan clearly backed Poker Face as a potentially prestigious piece of premium local content, the likes of which they’ve had some success with previously (I am Woman; Sunburnt Christmas; Relic; Gold; Nitram). But entrusting the project to a fading creative force like Crowe has left them holding the film equivalent of a 2-7 offsuit.

BLONDE

Stars: Ana de Armas, Bobby Carnavale, Adrien Brody, Lily Fisher, Dan Butler, Xavier Samuel, Evan Williams and Julianne Nicholson.
Writer: Andrew Dominik, based upon the novel by Joyce Carroll Oates.
Director: Andrew Dominik

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Andrew Dominik has spent the best part of a decade writing his adaptation of Joyce Carroll Oates novel or, as she calls, fictional biography; a mighty 700+ pager that reinterpreted the real-world celebrity of Marilyn Monroe as a case study of abuse, mental torment and workplace exploitation. Hollywood and, in one of many shocking sequences, Washington DC, discovered a pliable public goddess figure in the industrially-crafted form of ‘Marilyn Monroe’, deciding early on that the impact upon the emotionally fragile woman that was Norma Jean Baker was inconsequential.

That is the version of the Monroe mythology that Dominik is undertaking in his bold, occasionally brilliant, sometimes infuriating 2.5 hour wallow in fame deconstruction. It is a film full of people who, like the American public since Monroe first appeared on screen in Don’t Bother to Knock, fall willingly and blindly in love with false idols. In tearing down the carefully manufactured facade that was ‘Marilyn Monroe’, he is also merciless in his depiction of baseball great Joe Di Maggio (Bobby Carnavale) and President JFK (Casper Phillipson), fellow icons of America’s golden post-war years.

Enduring the tortuous mental deterioration as Dominik’s Marilyn is Ana de Armas, and the actress is both entirely at one with her director’s vision and, more often than not, significantly better than it. While there are legitimate issues that one may have with Dominik’s style or structure or perceived intent, there can be no reservations as to the bravery and depth of character that de Armas demands of herself. Physically, she is as cinematically luminous as Monroe at her most photogenic, while also offering a stark portrayal of an emotionally incomplete and constantly deteriorating victim of lifelong abuse and loneliness.

The Marilyn Monroe biopic that captures her business acumen and comic timing and acting prowess, aspects of her life that critics have noted is absent from BLONDE, is another film entirely; Dominik’s wildly ambitious work is the story of what the American entertainment industry is willing to do to draw every last drop of humanity out of those it selects to exploit. It is a sad, bitter, horrible tale, which is not how those invested in her legend want to see Marilyn portrayed. But it is a version of her life that is as important in its telling as the perpetuation of her screen-goddess myth.

DREAMS OF PAPER & INK

Stars: Tamara Lee Bailey, William Servinis, Neal Bosanquet, Marlene Magee, Emily Rok, Christopher Jordan, Sorcha Johnson and Anisa Mahama.
Writer/director: Glenn Triggs

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

An ageing author undertakes a melancholy journey through his earliest memories of love in Dreams of Paper & Ink, the latest work of independent sector inspiration from writer-director Glenn Triggs. A dialogue-free recounting of the first pangs of romance as recalled through the lens of age and wisdom, Triggs has crafted a film that draws upon his audience’s own experiences as much as it does his lead characters. Minus the spoken word, Dreams of Paper & Ink evokes the universal joys and pains of that first heartfelt connection.

The latest book from author Wade Gibson (Neal Bosanquet) is a fanciful medieval adventure that stumbles upon release, so much so that his publisher asks for something more personal - an account of that first time that love took hold of his heart. The assignment sends the author into a melancholy tailspin, as he commits to truthfully recalling how his younger self (William Servinis) fell for and wooed the free-spirited Kina (Tamara Lee Bailey). 

Triggs stages the older Wade’s writing process by placing the author and his typewriter in the very moment with his recollections. This creates a kind of ‘greek chorus’ effect, providing the audience with an emotional barometer, a gauge of the old man’s reactions to his own immaturity and romantic missteps. Initially, there is an overarching “Youth is wasted on the young” theme to Wade’s observations, but soon he comes to realise that it was his selfish flaws that extinguished in Kina the very essence that drew him to her.

The three leads are ideally cast, none more so than Bailey as Kina. Her joyous first onscreen impression, longings for deeper connection with young Wade and heartbreaking recognition that the magic has dissolved are conveyed with profundity by the young actress, who shares a convincing chemistry, in times both good and bad, with an equally terrific Servinis. As the older Wade, Bosanquet is wonderful in projecting the sense of personal revelation his journey comes to represent. As Wade’s wife, Marlene Magee is lovely as the woman that has come to represent love as a truly shared journey.    

‘Dialogue-free’ does not mean wordless. The lyrics of evocative songs and the prose of notes written between lovers take on added emphasis, both narratively and emotionally. Music and image convey both the thrall of that initial connection and the chilliness of love’s final hours. Triggs sets himself a true storytelling challenge, and pulls it off with a skill he’s honed in his past genre works (Cinemaphobia, 2009; 41, 2012; Apocalyptic, 2014; The Comet Kids, 2016). His first ‘serious drama’, Dreams of Paper and Ink confirms his status as one of the most interesting and accomplished independent voices in Australian film.

WITCHES OF BLACKWOOD

Stars: Cassandra Margrath, Kevin Hofbauer, Lee Mason, Susan Vasiljevic, Francesca Waters, Nikola Dubois, John Voce, Nicholas Denton and Francesca Waters.
Writer: Darren Markey
Director: Kate Whitbread

WITCHES OF BLACKWOOD will release day-and-date on September 7 on DVD and Premium TVOD, followed by a full digital release.

Rating: ★ ★ ★

Reaffirming the long held cinematic maxim that anyone who lives in a small country town has something horrible to hide, Kate Whitbread’s flavourful, female-focused ‘Australian Gothic’ chiller Witches of Blackwood spins a slow burn narrative steeped in dark memories and sinister secrets to increasingly potent effect. 

Cassandra McGrath stars as Claire Nash, a cop relieved of duty while the suicide of a young man (a terrific Nicholas Denton) in her presence is being investigated. A phone call from her Uncle Cliff (Brit actor John Voce) brings Claire home to the bush township of Blackwood; her dilapidated family home, scene to moments of mystery and menace in the past, needs tending. 

Despite its pretty eucalyptus backdrop, Blackwood is a soulless place, its streets empty but for a few sallow-eyed women, wandering aimlessly. Horrors begin to arise around Claire; gruesome animal remains, a blood-soaked woman in her bathtub, ethereal visions in the bushlands. As hinted at not-so-subtly in the US title (it was ‘The Unlit’ during its limited cinema season Down Under), the dark spirits that haunt Blackwood are emerging and tied directly to the legacy left by Claire’s family.

The first act of Darren Markey’s script hits character beats that establish Claire and her mental anguish, but meanders on its journey to Blackwood. The film finds surer footing as the spectre of the supernatural surfaces. McGrath plays ‘unravelling sanity’ well and the confluence of her past and Blackwood’s present gives the actress some emoting opportunities that don’t always arise in genre pics. The twist that bridges the ‘then and now’ and brings Claire’s journey full circle is as well-handled as any of M. Night Shyamalan’s recent efforts.

The on-trend ‘folk horror’ vibe, including the full extent of the coven’s bloodlust, delivers in gruesome detail. While it lacks the mythological backstory of Ari Aster’s Midsommar or warped psychology of Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, the oppressive darkness that smothers the township and courses through Claire makes Witches of Blackwood an intriguingly nightmarish entry in the genre.