After a limited cinema release its great to find Australian filmmaker Joel Anderson’s psychological thriller on DVD. This low budget horror flick has been a global cult hit and selected for the 2010 Horrorfest4 film festival.
A few days before Christmas, sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) drowns while swimming in the local dam. The film captures the eerie paranormal occurrences that are a fall out from her death. Alice’s family (June Palmer, David Pledger and Martin Sharpe) are subjected to a series of unsettling events that drive them to see the help of a psychic and parapsychologist only to discover the disturbing truth about Alice’s double life.
The haunting beauty of Australia’s landscape, in particular the dry Lake Mungo provides the backdrop for the family’s disturbing search for a greater understanding of Alice’s life. The family confronts not only their grief but Alice’s secrets.
Don’t dismiss the hand held camera and documentary style of this film as another Blair Witch Project. It’s an eerily crafted psychological thriller. Part ghost story and part family drama, this bold exploration of death and its aftershocks delivers the thrills and creepy anxiety demanded by horror genre fans.
The huge buzz around this low budget flick is that the makers of The Ring will do a big budget remake. If this is true, let’s hope some of the great Aussie talents reprise their haunting roles.
Distributor: Madman Films
RRP: $34.95
