Plot: Based on the true story of Australia's worst serial killer, John Bunting (Daniel Henshall), whose string of killings is often referred to as the "Bodies in Barrels Murders," this grounded interpretation narrows in on 16 year-old Jamie (Lucas Pittaway). After experiencing tragedies of his own, the impressionable teen falls under the wing of Bunting and his crusade of evil.
Review: How do you approach making a film about heinous slayings pulled from the headlines without destining it to a Wal-Mart bargain big alongside other true-life murder flicks such as Dahmer, Ed Gein, and Gacy? The answer is simple, but far from obvious: don't make it a horror movie. Writer-director Justin Kerzel, in his first feature, manages to approach this well-publicized story without the bells and whistles of typical horror and treats the material with a much more appropriate natural style, which makes the horrible crimes all the more disturbing.
It's been a long time since I've seen an entire ensemble cast master naturalism so perfectly, with particular emphasis on Henshall's entirely believable and utterly terrifying turn. By underplaying Bunting as seemingly nothing more than a charming guy-from-down-the-street, Henshall shows us just how easy it would be for a susceptible mind to be swayed by Bunting's magnetic personality. But as much as Henshall stands out, it really is the effort of the entire cast that makes Snowtown feel like it could be happening right next door.
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| Daniel Henshall as John Bunting |
There's no way to address this film without mentioning its graphic content. Before the screening, a speaker reminded the audience several times that the film is indeed very violent, and that refunds would be given to those who left the theater within the first 25 minutes of the movie. Yes, many people couldn't stomach it; I haven't heard so many seats flipping back and forth since I saw Brokeback Mountain in my Eastern Oregon hometown of about 10,000 people. What makes the violence so unnerving is not the direct filming of the murders, which we actually get very little of thanks to Kurzel's knack for suggestion, but the reactions from the characters to what they're seeing. Because Jaime is shocked to the core by what he witnesses, we feel exactly the same way, which is much more unsettling than watching Jason tear a promiscuous teen in half with a machete. Don't be surprised if you catch yourself feeling like a silent participant in these appalling proceedings; such is the hypnotic nature of Snowtown.
If you think you can handle the content matter, I can't recommend Snowtown enough. It is one of the most uniquely unnerving cinematic experiences I have had in a long while, and many of its beautifully framed images will stick in my mind for years to come – for better or worse.
A word of warning, though: I would recommend not seeing this film in a densely-packed shopping mall on a Friday night. Coming out of the theater and having to face escalators and screeching teenagers was jarring, to say the least.
