Dying Breed

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Horrorphile - May 2009

Dying Breed

May 27th 2009 03:46

It might not be the most original premise in the realm of horror, but Dying Breed (2008) is well-made and provides a few tasty morsels of nightmarish grotesquerie that perches it above similar dross. It’s an Australian production set in Tasmania and it plunders those reliable elements: inbreds and cannibalism. It also features the legendary Tasmanian Tiger, an extinct native cat which supposedly might still exist prowling the dense undergrowth of what was once called Van Dieman’s Land.

Directed by newcomer Jody Dwyer, with two other newcomers in acting roles; Mirrah Foulkes and Melanie Vellajo, it also co-stars Leigh Whannell (Saw) and Nathan Phillips (Wolf Creek). The plot has Irish zoologist Nina (Aussie Foulkes doing an impressive accent) traveling to Tasmania to complete her dead sister’s work in hopefully proving the existence of the supposedly extinct Tassie Tiger. Joining her are her boyfriend Matt (Whannell), his obnoxious mate Jack (Phillips) and his girlfriend Rebecca (Vallejo).

Mirrah Foulkes as Nina

Off into the wilderness they go, gung ho, hi ho. Deep into Pieman territory; where the urban myth of cannibals, ancestors of escaped penal convict Alexander Pearce who managed to elude capture for months while sustaining himself on the flesh of his fellow escaped comrades permeates the yarns of local backwoods folk. It isn’t long before they reach the end of their tether, partly because of Jack’s bad behaviour, but chiefly because the hills have eyes, and they ain’t too pretty lookin’ either.

Dying Breed Leigh Whannell and Melanie Vellajo

Leigh Whannell as Matt and Melanie Vallejo as Rebecca

Yes, several movies come to mind while watching Dying Breed, and one of them is even mentioned by Jack when he cynically refers to their trekking into Deliverance-territory. That brilliant and seminal 1971 movie by John Boorman has a lot to answer for. The other movie that springs to mind is the excellent Wrong Turn (2003), which features a group of hapless “tourists” who fall foul of savage inbred mountain men. Curiosity nearly always kills the cat.

Nathan Phillips as Jack

Fast-paced, with tight direction and solid acting, Dying Breed was surprisingly effective. I was really prepared not to enjoy myself with this addition to the flesh-eatin’, sex-starved, abandoned mine-livin’ mutants in the woods scenario. The gore effects were nicely handled too, especially a particularly gruesome lip-munchin’ moment. There’s also some spare, but convincing CGI for the ol’ Tiger glimpses, and a terrifically monstrous reveal of the main cannibal near movie’s end.

Sally McDonald as Nina's sister Ruth

The most disturbing element is the in-breds need to procreate with the gene pool outside the square; fresh stock in order to keep their bloodline running. This plays cleverly with the title, referring to both the Tiger and Pearce’s ancestry. According to the movie 250 people have disappeared in Tasmania since Pearce escaped. According to director Dwyer the village of Sarah (on Sarah Island, which is where Pearce ran wild until his capture with human flesh in his pockets in 1824) is a small township that passionately upholds its cannibalistic heritage in honour of the convict patriarch that gave birth to it.

Whether the Tiger actually still exists, well, there’ve been numerous sightings of it despite it being listed as extinct. There’s a nightmarish, minor surprise ending, including a tag-on end credit reveal of what Rebecca managed to capture with her mobile phone camera, just to keep the myth alive.

Sarah's Island eels found Nina's sister Ruth rather tasty

NB: One of the movie posters which depicts the ingredients of Sarah’s (in)famous pies was banned from many Australian public sites, most notably train stations. Gee, I wonder why? The same controversial image is subliminally flashed (just a few frames) during the beginning of the movie’s end credits.

Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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10 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Someone

May 27th 2009 04:06

Evil Pleasures
Random Musings on Life, Love and Everything
Let's Get Down To Business

I watched this on a tv with so much glare that I couldn't make out what was happening... Haven't gotten around to giving it a fair go yet. The bits I could make out did look pretty good though.

Comment by Damo

May 27th 2009 05:30

I think this film got caned by the movie show.

I may have to wait till it come on TV again.

Australian Horror films seem to be having a slight resurgence now.

Comment by Jason King

May 27th 2009 07:43

Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness

I got to screen some test screenings of this one and spent some time with the director and producer. Great guys. I also worked the premiere and it seemed to go well. Bad news was I am yet to see it. Hahaha. It's on the list. It did get selected for Tribeca for it's first release though so it can't be that bad - will suss it out soon.

Comment by Bryn

May 27th 2009 08:43

Horrorphile

Damo, the movie show is not the one with margaret and david, right? that's at the movies, yes?

Comment by Bryn

May 27th 2009 08:48

Horrorphile

Jason, yeah I saw that it was playing at Tribeca. It's definitely one of the stronger Aussie horror movies.

Comment by JohnDoe

May 28th 2009 18:06

Film & TV on DVD

Man i love that poster!!

This one is top of my Aussie must see list, maybe a jaunt down to Tribeca is warranted

After all their are so many exciting films at the festival..

Comment by Bryn

May 29th 2009 02:38

Horrorphile

JD, shut-up about Tribeca. Are you gonna do Rue Morgue for me?

Comment by Natalina

September 28th 2009 06:52

My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog

Hi Bryn!

I just watched this last night, and I really enjoyed it. I couldn't remember if you had reviewed it, but I figured you likely did.

Being the crypto nerd that I am, I was actually more drawn in by the Tasmanian Tiger premise than the rest of the film description...although I do love those inbred cannibals! Overall this was quite entertaining.

Incidentally, I watched a movie today that you HAVE to see if you haven't already. It was just one of the best horror movies I've seen since...well maybe Martyrs. It's called "The Devil's Chair". It's kinda artsy fartsy, and the packaging is so bad it made me pass it up for months. Finally rented it. Loved it. I think you would too. Not telling you anything about it because it really is one that is best watched knowing nothing about it.

You just have to take my word for it.

Comment by Bryn

September 28th 2009 08:04

Horrorphile

Natalina,
have to disagree with you here, which is unusual, but I didn't like The Devil's Chair at all. I found it pretentious as all hell. I wanted to like it, but found it self-indulgent. The entire movie grated on me and I tuned out. You get that sometimes.

Comment by Natalina

September 28th 2009 09:26

My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog

I'm SHOCKED! Truly, I really really liked it. Now, I will say that this perhaps was aided by the fact that I thought I was picking up a super cheesy B movie that was going to disappoint me as they usually do...so finding that it was so different than what I expected may have boosted my overall opinion a smidgey. But also...being a fan of that Guy Ritchie-esque voice over and fancy clippy style editing (don't you like it when I get all technical? Ha!) also helped to elevate the film for me. I didn't expect the ending. Did you?

Well here I was thinking I was going to finally be able to show YOU a movie worth watching... and not only have you seen it but you didn't like it. Thanks for peeing on my parade! LOL

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