Skip to main content

100 Bloody Acres

Historically, Australia hasn't been a huge producer of horror. Were you to catalog their film offerings, they'd fall more into that post apocalyptic, punk-rock, dystopian bucket. I remain unsurprised that such an empty, harsh place would have a soft spot in its heart for a wasteland of a world. What is actually kind of strange is that a place so full of poisonous and deadly wildlife has yet to really throw their hat into the killer creature ring. The horror that does come out of Australia is typically populated by human killers of the psychotic variety.

Were you to ask me, I never would have expected a Tucker and Dale VS Evil caliber horror comedy to come roaring out of Australia. Yet it happened. 100 Bloody Acres is equal parts hilarious and gruesome. While Tucker and Dale plays heavily off the established stereotypes of the horror genre, 100 Bloody Acres finds pleasure in poking fun at our obsession with "free range" and "organic," in the perils of owning a small business, in sibling rivalry, and in our sometimes inexplicable choices in mates.

Here's the gist

Two Australian hillbilly brothers own an organic fertilizer company. When they start adding humans into the mix, things start to go awry for them. Brother turns against brother while love blossoms between one sibling and a potential victim. Some people die, some people fall in love, and the fertilizer business may or may not succeed. Either way, there are plenty of laughs to be had. Coming in at just about 90 minutes, the story manages not to drag and not to get too absurd before plopping you at a strangely emotional climax.

...have I just used "coming" and "climax" in the same sentence? 12 year old me can't stop snickering...but that awful sex scene might be enough of a buzzkill to sober anyone up...

The fact that everything about this movie is very good is almost outshined by Damon Herriman's performance. He may not be a beautiful man to look at BUT GOD DAMN he is an incredible (versatile) actor who plays "dumb hillbilly" so well I sometimes forget that ISN'T who he really is.

The fact that you've probably seen him on American television has set you (like myself) up for the immense surprise that he really is Australian. Mind = blown.

Watch this one for a good laugh paired with a healthy splash of bloody violence.

You can catch the 100 Bloody Acres trailer here:
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Witch (2015)

You know the drill - there's ALWAYS spoilers. Don't want the movie ruined for you, come back after you've seen it. Also - I'm still without an editor - typos and bad grammar await you! I keep hoping that the cultural obsession with zombies will end; literally every other damn movie that comes 'round seems to feature some sort of shambling, undead being bent on devouring the weak flesh of regular humans. Once upon a time, zombies have have been used as a metaphor for the blind consumerism created by our capitalist society, or the perceived depletion of resources by immigrants, or even the ravages of time and disease on our frail bodies. Now it seems that the deeper social commentary has been lost as audiences mindlessly consume "zombie fiction" in an attempt to keep up with trends. ( How very meta - a film buddy of mine commented on this assessment! ) All of this is just a sideways rant, leading up to my actual point: it seems that zombie may actually...
1 comment
Read more

Mother!

Alright friends and readers–this one is probably doubly filled with typos and grammar errors because I wrote it while angry. Good luck and happy reading. There are unpopular opinions in every realm. As a film student, you can truly strike a nerve when you say things like, "I fucking hate the self-indulgence of independent films and the way people idolize them." Or, you know, "Low lighting and slow pacing does not a good movie make." Or whatever. You can of course, objectively, understand how this happens. When you are creating art–when you are outside the system  so to speak–you are free to explore things (subjects, techniques, etc.) that may need to be addressed and that freedom can become intoxicating and go to one's head. While it may seem only right  or only fair  to respect and accept each creative endeavor that every artist undertakes, it is unreasonable to believe that the world will remain forever patient with the self-obsession artists have. Th...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Babadook

Spoilers and typos! Enjoy. We often look back nostalgically on childhood, envious of the joy we felt and the boundless imaginations we possessed. How conveniently we forget the other side of that coin: as children, we experience a depth of terror our adult selves continually try to recreate for cathartic entertainment. When we try to bring those childhood fears to life on the screen, we often end up with movies about "things that go bump in the night," which is a somewhat superficial approach. While it does provide an opportunity for a supernatural experience, it ignores the root of our fear: the unknown . As children, we lack life experience. We lack nuance. We lack understanding. Not knowing creates in us fear. Yes, we fear what lurks in the darkness but we also fear the adult world because we do not understand how it works. The Babadook works to exploit both  those fears. The short story: a widowed mother of a young boy experiences a mental breakdown and tries to...
Post a Comment
Read more