Australian

[5] This Australian TV movie from Peter Weir is a subdued psychological thriller about a woman who grows increasingly frustrated and fearful of an eccentric plumber. Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society) throws in a little commentary on the issue of class prejudice and does a good job building some suspense, but the stakes aren’t high enough, nor the motivations dire enough, for the movie to …

[3] A super-low budget Australian flick that tries very, very hard to be a heady psychological thriller. From start to finish, there are only five characters and a single beach setting, so the movie ends up feeling claustrophobic in a bad, cheap way. Once the characters have difficulty discerning fantasy from reality and one of them turns out to (maybe?) be the Devil, I lost …

[5] I’m at a loss for this one. I saw the movie, but I’m still not sure what it’s about. There’s a town that sabotages drivers, all so the community can trade auto parts among themselves and hand the drivers (the ones who live) over to a doctor for medical experimentation. The town’s adults live in fear of their own children, a punkish lot that …

[8] Half-way through The Loved Ones, I was hating it all over. The fact that it won me back impresses the shit out of me. It’s an Australian horror flick about a hapless teenager struggling with survivor’s guilt (Xavier Samuel) who gets kidnapped by a spoiled, sadistic classmate (Robin McLeavy) and her whipped father (John Brumpton). Once tied to a chair beneath a spinning disco …

[8] Three girls and a teacher mysteriously disappear during a 1900 school picnic at a strange rock formation in this Australian film from director Peter Weir (Witness, Master and Commander). Weir uses his trademark poetic license to suggest a supernatural cause, but don’t look for a firm answers — the film is based on a true story that was never solved.