by Chris Marshall:
In case you missed the first post in this series over at
Movie Coda, my roommate Justin and I are going to watch a horror movie each day
until Halloween and write our thoughts about it. Any kind of horror is fair
game, but the films must be available either on Netflix Instant or Hulu Plus. Each
day we will alternate blogs, but I’ll link to the previous day’s post on here
as well.
Sometimes we’ll have conflicting opinions, and sometimes we’ll
agree. We’re not playing the game where we each take a different side of the
argument. In other words, I’ll always have the correct opinion about each film,
and every once in a while, when he agrees with me, Justin will be right too.
My first pick was The
Snowtown Murders, a rare horror biopic. I had wanted to see it when it was
in the theater in Ohio, but it had such a short run that I never made it. We’ll
see if it was worth our while.
Netflix Instant Summary: “This grisly thriller is based on
the true story of Australia's worst serial killer, John Bunting, and the people
he convinced to help him.”
Directed by: Justin Kurzel
Cast: Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, Louise Harris
Chris: Well, last night’s film, The
Snowtown Murders, was definitely a major change in tone from our first
selection. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, considering that it’s based on
the true story of Australia’s worst ever serial killer(s), but jeez, that was
dark.
I’m still not entirely convinced that it was really a “horror
movie,” though. Most of the things that happened were certainly horrifying, but
it never seemed like it was actively trying to scare the audience. Disturb,
yes. Frighten, no. Under most circumstances, that would be perfectly fine—I
thought it was generally a quite good movie—but since we’re supposed to be
watching horror, I don’t know if it quite fit the bill.
But this was my pick, so I have no one but myself (and
Netflix) to blame. And again, I mostly liked it. It would be impossible to
directly compare it with Pontypool
since they’re so very different, but I would absolutely say that The Snowtown Murders is the better film.
You know, for whatever that’s worth.
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| The uncharismatic Lucas Pittaway as Jamie Vlassakis |
There were plenty of flaws, however. I spent much more time
being confused than I should have, and I don’t really believe that was the
director’s intention. Part of it had to do with my difficulty understanding the
often thick Australian accents, but it was mostly due to the film not being
laid out in a logical, cohesive fashion. There were several characters who we
saw plenty of but were never really introduced to. I went to Wikipedia
immediately after the movie ended to read more about the real crimes, and I
realized that I didn’t know who most of the people discussed in the article
were.
I might be willing to give the movie a pass on this, simply
because it is primarily about John Bunting, the ringleader of the serial
killers, told through the eyes of his stepson-cum-accomplice, Jamie Vlassakis.
But if the movie is painting an accurate picture of their lives—a dubious
proposition, I admit—then it would make sense to give us more than a cursory
introduction to these people who play such a key role in the plot/murders.
As with Pontypool,
I think the performances were pretty good. I give especially high marks to
Daniel Henshall, who played Bunting convincingly as a power-hungry psychopath
serial killer, which either speaks volumes about his acting ability or is a
really bad sign about his personality, one of the two. James Franco/Keanu
Reeves/Christian Slater hybrid Lucas Pittaway was okay, I guess, as Jamie,
though the role was extremely reminiscent of James Frecheville’s character in Animal Kingdom.
If you haven’t seen Animal
Kingdom, it’s about a kid in his late teens who, after his mother dies, is
adopted by his extended family, who are apparently Australia’s answer to the
Corleones. He doesn’t do much except watch as the people around him engage in
unspeakably evil acts. That’s exactly the same thing as Jamie does here! I give
him a lot of credit for being a good crier, but mostly he’s just a conduit for
us to view the actions of Bunting. I’m sure he spoke more than I remember, but
I can only come up with about five words he uttered during the entire movie.
Anyway, I talk too much. Long story short, The Snowtown Murders is a pretty good
movie about a very evil group of men. Is it a horror movie? That’s debatable,
but if you watch it, you’ll definitely have no shortage of horrors to think
about for the next few days.
Justin: Ok, there are two things this movie is really
good at.
First, the tone of the film is excellent. I love horror
movies that create a universe so grotesque that the horror seems like a natural
occurrence. Films like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Monster, and
even such high-end fare like Taxi Driver and Se7en. Kurzel does a
fantastic job of making the ordinary seem grotesque. Some of the insane meetings
of the anti-pedophilia group felt very much like a Harmony Korine movie who is
the master of the grotesquely watchable.
Everything is calculated to be off-putting and weird. The
sounds of the machines early in the film, the looks of the extras and supporting
characters, even the way Jamie eats his egg yolk. It leaves the viewer with a
disturbing, squirmy feeling at the base of the gut. It's a world where visitors
require a tetanus shot. Perfect for a film like this.
 |
| The real life John Bunting |
The other great strength this movie has is the casting of
Daniel Henshall. I'm in complete agreement with Chris here. Henshall is
riveting as the charismatic serial killer. He seems so confident, so in control
that until his darker nature is revealed he seems like a saving grace to this
poor family. Once he turns, Henshall plays it to the hilt. He's frightening.
There's a scene inside a car where he yells at Jamie and continually bashes his
head into the window. It seems impossible to tell where this scene is going
because Henshall's performance has given us two completely convincing sides to
this man. Will he be the fatherly figure and give Jamie a stern lecture? Or
will he torture him to death for disobeying his rules? I'll leave the answer up
to you.
Other than that this film sucks. Like Chris I can't compare
it to Pontypool. Pontypool aimed for middle ground and fell short. Snowtown
aims high and falls even lower. It shouldn't be this way.
There have been many films about serial killers, but this one
attempts to dig new ground. By focusing on the people this killer convinced and
seduced into helping him instead of on the killer himself, it opens up a much
more intriguing story. Instead of focusing on the murder spree and the run from
the cops this movie focuses on the personal relationships between people so
destroyed that they'll gratefully accept any sort of companionship, even if it
does come from a murdering psychopath. It should have been interesting. It
wasn't. I'll tell you why. It's a problem of perspective.
If this whole film is going to be told from the point of view
of a latecomer, then he needs to be dynamic. He has to draw focus from an actor
playing a charismatic villain. It's not easy. Think of Jodie Foster as Clarice
Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. No matter how much fun we have
with Lecter, Clarice still has our heart. So who do we get to compete with a
compelling and complex performance? Well, in The Snowtown Murders we get
one of the most vacant, boring, and useless protagonists I have ever seen.
Lucas Pittaway plays Jamie with two degrees of emotion: none
and crying. This character literally takes action in the film only once and
it's meaningless. The character never grows, never has an opinion, never affects
the plot in any meaningful way. His drive seems to be that people tell him to
do things and he does them. I understand that the character is supposed to so
weak that he'd be taken in by the insane ramblings of a serial killer, but this
is ridiculous. I haven't seen Animal Kingdom yet, so I can't draw that
comparison, but characters who function as a mirror for the audience to view
the world aren't a rarity.
Just from the list above there are two great examples: Robert
DeNiro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver and Michael Rooker as Henry Lee
Lucas in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. It's not impossible. This
character has to function as a portal into the film's world and when that
portal lacks any charisma, when he barely seems able to care about the
situation around him, then the audience feels the same way. The film lays there
like a dead fish for us to gaze at. Really, this character would have been
underwritten if he were a James Bond henchmen. Unfortunately he's the main
character in the film.
Film is the worst medium for conveying straight facts. After
watching this I'm sure that the Wikipedia article Chris read was just as
enthralling. It just didn't take two hours.
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