Highly Recommended
A remarkable collection of perspectives that not only gets to the heart of (what Sarah Maddison would call) the “colonial fantasy,” but are ripping good yarns too.
Billed as Australia’s first Indigenous horror anthology, DARK PLACE brings together a collective of Indigenous voices who find horror in Australia’s past, present, and future while maintaining a healthy sense of the macabre.
In Kodie Bedford’s opener “Scout,” a group of Aboriginal women are abducted by a group of rich white men, and has been described by the director as “the black Kill Bill.” It follows the conventions of captive narrative, such as the Saw films, but comes with a definite finger pointed at privilege. “I didn’t need to be in here to know I was nothing,” remarks one abductee.
Liam Phillip’s “Foe” and Rob Braslin’s “Vale Light” are on much more familiar horror ground, and could happily sit inside any horror anthology. The former draws on the grand tradition of films like Repulsion (with a little bit of David Lynch for good measure) as an insomniac comes to realise that her nighttime wandering may be sinister somnambulism. The latter is almost a Twilight Zone piece as a little girl becomes the centre of a supernatural set of abilities in a housing commission home.
“The Shore,” from director Perun Bonser, takes a sharp left turn into stylish abstraction. Shot in stark black and white, Bonser immediately gives it a point of difference from the other pieces in DARK PLACE. Told in a disjointed fashion, its gothic atmosphere and beautiful photography make it unique among its companions.
The standout is Björn Stewart’s finale, “Killer Native,” a splatter-gore period piece that refuses to pull any punches. An absurdist piece that could serve as a more complete companion to Judy & Punch, it plays with the idea of the Indigenous population rising from the dead to seek justice for the actions of colonists. Part Evil Dead 2 with its equal doses of slapstick and bloodletting, it’s arguably the most subversive of the group. While I won’t spoil the ending for you here, it paints everything from the legal myth of terra nullius to the Stolen Generation as the land upon which two hapless colonials have built their haunted home.
As a collective, the five shorts couldn’t be more different from each other, but they come together as a powerful message to Australia’s filmmakers. This is how you make something that is wholly Australian while still appealing to lovers of genre cinema. It’s also just a bloody good set of stories.
2019 | Australia | DIRECTOR: Björn Stewart, Perun Bonser, Kodie Bedford, Liam Phillips, Rob Braslin | WRITER: Kodie Bedford, Björn Stewart, Liam Phillips, Perun Bonser, Rob Braslin| CAST: Clarence Ryan, Charlie Garber, Leonie Whyman, Tasia Zalar, Lily Sullivan, Luka May Glynn-Cole, Katherine Beckett | DISTRIBUTOR: Noble Savage Pictures| RUNNING TIME: 75 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 15-16 June 2019 (SFF)
