Angustia a flor de piel

I'm no huge Quentin Tarantino fan but I do share his affinity with Australian cinema, so when I learned this long forgotten film was at the top of his list, my curiosity won over.

Compared by Tarantino to one of my all time favourites, The Shining, Next of Kin meanders far too long without much semblance of a point or plot line. Certain scenes and characters elicit a well constructed sense of dread, albeit for too long the elements remain frustratingly obtuse.

Ironically, John Jarrett of menacing Wolf Creek fame, is the only person involved in this outback haunted horror flick to carve a successful career in the industry, yet here he plays one of the film's least threatening characters as the ex boyfriend of the central protagonist who inherits a creepy old folks' home. Her demeanour evokes comparisons to The Shining's Wendy Torrance as evil forces finally come to the fore.

Kudos for the attempt to achieve something unique to the Australian cinematic pantheon. One just wonders whether more capable hands might have seen this oddly interesting film find the consistency to warrant comparison to Kubrick.

That said, Next of Kin is worth a look and actually played better on second viewing.

"Next of Kin" is a cult horror classic from Australia.

It is effective at building suspense, and has some genuinely frightening, shocking moments.

The plot concerns a young woman who inherits her mother's nursing home. Strange deaths occur at the home and when the lady reads her mother's diary, finds that events in the past are mirrored in the present.

The movie is less a slasher than an Aussie giallo. It's a violent murder mystery with Hitchcockian suspense touches, rather than the typical hallmarks of the slasher genre, eg. a masked killer stalking victims who split up to be offed one by one, and sex leading to a grisly death.

The film is far more interested in atmosphere, which it provides really well.

Though the pacing can drift over to the sluggish side at times, Next of Kin is a very effective Australian thriller that deftly makes use of the spooky retirement home setting to creep out the audience. Once the action packed finale rolls around, any pacing issues will be forgiven.

Despite popular belief, Next of Kin isn't really a regular stalk and slash flick. There isn't much of a death count and Tony Williams doesn't waste time with constant self references to other genre pieces. However, the plot resolves around a psychotic intruder that's murdering the inmates of an old people's home, although the deaths are sporadic enough (we only see one) to keep the heroine believing that they're actually accidents.

The things that lift Next of Kin above its contempararies is the superb, noteworthy direction and great atmosphere. It's beautifully photographed, with some instantly exquisite camera movements that add a supreme energy and sense of professionalism that's rarely found in slasher movies from New Zealand or Australia. In fact, such a notable level of craftsmanship is rarely seen in any category addition. There are plenty of credible shots, the best being the woodland scenes in which we see the mysterious menace lurking in the distance amongst the trees, barely recognisable. It's fairly well acted - although not superbly -, and it works well to set up a creepy suspense fuelled environment. When the nut-job reveals himself, there's some brilliant chases and a few surprises.

Like I said, don't expect slasher cliches by the dozen, but if you keep your options open, you'll find Next of Kin to be fairly rewarding. Worth a look...

just HAD to put my comment here. I think that the rating given to this movie is far below what it deserves. I first saw this film when i was 17 and it scared the pans of me. Now more than ten years later i still think it works well. The story is simple and has a few holes but it's got a great soundtrack and very nice cinematography. The acting is better than in your common horror film. I rate this one 8 stars out of 10. And i believe that anything below a five rating is given by people who don't appreciate a good horror movie.