Snowtown review

Warp Films is not known for making the easiest movies to watch in fact, brutal horror is a good way to describe a lot of their latest films such as Tyrannosaur or Kill List.  Thus, it should not be that surprising to find out that Snowtown is also on the list as a brutal horror flick that you are going to have to have a strong stomach in order to watch.  The film itself is based on the largest serial killer ever in Australia, John Bunting, if that offers any idea of just how truly horrifying the film is too watch.

The film follows Louise Harris in the role of Elizabeth who is happy to have met John Bunting unaware of what he is capable as the single mother Elizabeth has just escaped a local pedophile with her three sons.  Bunting acts as a vigilante and steps in to act as a father figure to son Jamie even though this drags him just a little closer to the dark side as he is already marked with a dark traumatic past.

The runtime on the film is only 120 minutes, but each minute is thrilling and Justin Kurzel does a wonderful job for his first full length film as a director as the bleakness of the scenery and the plot provide for plenty of understated horror throughout that pushes the viewer onwards through the film.

The very best part of the movie however is the way that the violent films are painted into the small town mundane suburban life making it even harder to watch the violence since everything else seems exactly as it should be to viewers.  For example, cricket plays on as someone is raped, kangaroos are killed in the back garden, and a mass grave is unwillingly dug by helpful citizens.

Daniel Henshall also shines as John Bunting bringing him to life with an even more thrilling magnetic horror as you almost want to like him despite the repulsive acts that you see him commit on the screen and through recorded messages.  Even though viewers do not actually get to see the worst iof Bunting’s crimes in Snowtown, just knowing about them is enough as the voice messages make his voice even more haunting as he calmly discusses the crimes much like a house wife talking about what the dinner menu is for the week.