Review – 100 Bloody Acres

People probably remember the success of Wolf Creek and we’ve seen a lot of Aussie horror movies ride its coat tails since. Reflecting back earlier in Aussie cinema history, there was a knack for making ‘quirky’ comedies like Danny Deckchair and Siam Sunset that could sometimes be good but usually under-performed financially. 100 Bloody Acres brings back this quirky comedy, but with an edge of horror more reflective of the contemporary Aussie genre movie.

Damon Merriman has the lead as Reg Morgan, the dimwitted subordinate brother of the twisted and domineering Lindsay Morgan (Angus Sampson). Their blood and bone fertiliser business has had successful results with an experimental ingredient: human corpses. Seeking Lindsay’s approval, Reg picks up a trio of stranded festival-bound road trippers. Lindsay struggles to work with the live specimens, as lonely Reg’s increasing acquaintance with their prey drags up his guilt.

The horror movie has a surprising amount of character focus. Merriman has a tough job making the lonely Reg sympathetic, but Sampson, a reliably strong actor, relishes in his role. The victims have amusingly unrealistic reactions to their situation. Jamie Kristain starts out quite annoying as Brit Wes, but he improves as the blood starts to spurt. Anna McGahan plays a relatively straightforward Sophie, but the story gives her some interesting character development. Oliver Ackland is unfortunately believable as the boring guy, when his character James could have used a camp twist. The body count might be a little disappointing for bloodthirsty horror fans, but as a quirky comedy 100 Bloody Acres benefits from the added cynicism and spraying plasma.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfcAvGnsT3I&w=400]