There's Something in the Pilliga

Director - Dane Millerd
Starring - Fay Beck (Deadly Women), Brendan Byrne (Wyrmwood), and Rebecca Callander (Emergency Exit)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "In the Australian outback, not all that wanders is lost"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Australia is not known for their horror films but some of my favorite horror flicks just happen to be Australian.  The Australian horror films Razorback, Undead, and The Loved Ones are some of the films I often visit time and time again.  These films never lose their charm so when I learn of a new Australian horror flick I tend to jump on it.  Recently, director Dane Millerd messaged the Horror Society Facebook page with news on the release of his new film There's Something in the Pilliga.  The film looked fun so I had to see it.  I reached out to Dane and he was kind enough to send me a link to his online screener.  Thanks Dane for giving me a chance to check it out!

     The film follows two outback rednecks as they drive around and have a good time.  One of them just got a new camera so he is recording all of their exploits.  The two hit up the local pub where they meet two girls along with more rednecks who have a crush on one of the young ladies.  They get into a little skirmish and the two men and women head out and travel out into the pilliga to head out to a friend's house.  However, once they get there he is nowhere to be seen but they do find drawings of a beast on his walls.  The two men leave the girls in the truck and head out into the outback with their dog to track him down.  They are gone for a very long time and the ladies become pissed and leave.  However, the two men find them and explain that the dog got the scent of something and ran off and they were looking for him.  They all make up but things turns from innocent fun to disastrous when they find the bodies of one of the men they just had an altercation with and a young lady the two men met earlier in the day.  The group panics and immediately runs for their lives where they started dropping one by one.  

     The found footage genre is played out.  I know that makes me a dick for saying but it is.  Almost every film I have seen that was a found footage flick would have been so much better if they went the traditional film route.  Very few films worked the found footage angel the way it was intended and all the others just failed to make the film feel authentic like the found footage sub-genre was designed.  Sadly, There's Something in the Pilliga was the same.  The found footage angle only took away from the film.  However, the film is still amazing but could have been so much better.  The acting in this film is solid by the entire cast but the male lead, Brendan Byrne, was fantastic.  He is one of the many reasons this film was so fun and enjoyable.  The story for this one is one we have seen time and time again with a group of twenty-somethings go into the woods to be stalked by an unknown creature with most of the time it ends up being crypto in origin.  It has also been done with the found footage angle but what sets this one apart from the others is the like-able characters and unexpected deaths.  Finally, the film lacks on screen deaths but the few kills we get to see the aftermath of have great practical effects.  This more than made up for the lack of on screen kills.  Overall, There's Something in the Pilliga is a fantastic film that has enjoyable characters and never has a dull moment.  Check this one out!