Dying Breed

The little hype surrounding this Australian feature is probably better left unnoticed, as while I found it solid it doesn't pull any out punches we haven't already gone through before to leave an impressive imprint. Hey it reminded me of an other Australian horror film 'Wolf Creek (2005)' and maybe 'The Hills Have Eyes (2006)' remake, but this time the escalating terror is found in the beautiful forests of Tasmania as a group of young adults head out searching for the supposedly instinct Tasmanian tiger, but actually earth up something more horrifying about the area's local history.

For me this film really came out of nowhere, as the striking poster artwork (featuring a half eaten pie with an eyeball and finger within it) caught my attention and some rave reviews can feed your appetite. Sadly though, I was only one of four who were at the cinema to see it. I probably could've gone without seeing it and waited for it to hit DVD, but there's nothing quite like watching a horror film on the big screen.

What this story sets off to be is a little unsure, but about midway through you know where it's heading (Psycho territory with cannibalistic currents). I might sound like a broken record, but really this isn't nothing new compared to much modern horror focusing on the visual torture and torment of its victims. While it might not be as abundant, it still lingers and has a really nasty side. It has explicitly raw moments with pockets of vicious intensity, but it was not the violence that unnerved but the ominously remote woodland backdrop with constant eerie imagery. The scenery is gorgeously lush, but lurking beneath the gracefully hypnotic setting is the true grotesque horror that's hidden very well. The nocturnal, but surprisingly also the day sequences can get under your skin. The cinematography is professionally catered for with it drawing upon the atmosphere and setting. Editing is brisk, but well infused.

As for the story it uses actual facts and spins them in to total fiction. The main base of the story centres on the history of the extinct Tasmanian tiger, which some still believe exists and combining that legend of the cannibalistic Irish convict Alexander Pearce that managed to escape from the penal colony and headed for the wilderness to only be hanged in 1824. Then we hit modern times with a group of four after the exclusive photograph of the Tiger, but one of girls lost her sister within the same area they're visiting in a supposed drowning many years earlier. Now cue those articles of missing backpackers. But when they meet the creepy locals, the inbred jokes flow. Still we're flooded with flashbacks, piled on to flashbacks. Even if the set-up is clichéd and obviously formulaic, these back stories do give it a little more background and depth, and lessens the idea of turning in to something meaningless. The script has its questionable actions, but mainly lets it go about things.

The pacing is rather leisured, and I can see many complaining about the slowness of the opening half (think of the criticism that 'Wolf Creek' copped). But I thought it was milked out accordingly and with a purpose, to hit you hard when it finally changed direction. Featuring heavily is that it centres on mood, visuals and sounds than that of tearing and ballistic actions. Even when it does break out from it's causal handling, it still doesn't burst out and only adds tension with jolts in scattered slabs and formulated rushes. When it comes to the end, I found it to be stumbling there and results not entirely satisfying. But it still keeps that glum feel throughout.

Jody Dwyer's assured direction is slick and stylish. Maybe too so, but it's a brash display as his not afraid to bare gore and flesh… usually the latter in recent times sees little daylight in the mainstream horror releases. Even animal lovers should be aware. The performances are workmanlike, but no real empathic edge was created. Well not for me. One thing though it never seemed like they were ever aware in what type of situation they were or could be in, but when it unfolded it didn't entirely changed the perception. Leigh Whannel, Nathan Phillips, Mirrah Foulkes and Melanie Vallejo play the unlucky party.

A basic, but durably crafted genre effort.

Possibly the worst thing a distributor can do if they're testing to see if an Aussie horror should be released in the US/international cinema circuit is to release it in Australia first. First, the market for horror in OZ is tiny (only a small amount of people will go to see even the best horror at cinemas). Second, Aussies are the harshest critics of their own films - and if there is anything remotely wrong with the film the "tall poppy syndrome" kicks in and we cut it to shreds. We tend to focus on what's wrong with a local film rather than what's right with the film.

OK, so the film is a little derivative borrowing from Deliverance, Wrong turn and Hills have eyes - so what, most horrors derive from something these days. But what's right with the film? Plenty. There is some nasty, nasty, gore and cannibalism that made girls scream, people in the cinema jump three feet in the air and watch through trembling hands. The myth of the Pieman and Tasmanian Tiger is fascinating and intriguing storyline. Once the carnage kicks in this is a tense, brooding film that will have you on the edge of your seat. There are some very,very, good scenes - particularly the rabbit, and the bear trap scene. The setting and look of the film is brilliant - dark gloomy and and ominous.

I loved this film! It's up there with the best Aussie horrors and among some of the better international horrors. It will proudly go on my DVD shelf.

"Dying Breed" is a largely derivative and predictable Aussie horror flick that nevertheless benefices from a handful of marvelous elements, like a fascinating historical plot outline (albeit not at all accurate), breathtaking filming locations & scenery and a few unyielding shock sequences. The pivot character in "Dying Breed", even though he only briefly appears during the opening sequence, is Alexander Pearce a.k.a. "The Pieman". He was a cannibalistic murderer of Irish descent who got exiled to Tasmania to pay for the crimes he committed. Back in the early eighteen hundreds, when the whole of Australia was still a British prison colony and Tasmania an island where the heaviest cases were shipped off to, Alexander "Pieman" Pearce was the only convict how managed to escape and flee into the impenetrable Tasmanian forests. Obviously this plot outline isn't entirely accurate, as the real Pieman was in fact the nickname of a completely different prisoner and the real Alexander Pearce died at the gallows in 1824, but hey, it's a horror movie so everything goes. After the introduction of Pearce and the Tasmanian region, the plot resumes in present day Tasmania with the arrival of four twenty-something adventurers. Nina is a zoologist and wishes to continue the research of her sister who died here eight years ago whilst looking for last remaining species of the Tasmanian Tiger. She and her friends quickly discover that her sister didn't just drown, but fell victim to the bewildered and horribly inbred descendants of Alexander Pearce. They have only one goal in their miserable existence and that is to keep the bloodline alive. At the festival where I watched this movie, "Dying Breed" was exaggeratedly promoted like an Aussie interpretation of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes". Perhaps this is a fairly apt comparison, but stating something like that inevitably raises high expectations that "Dying Breed" can't possible fill in. Director Jody Dwyer does a reasonably good job, but he/she (?) yet doesn't succeed in generating an atmosphere of despair and sheer terror. It also takes slightly too long before the suspense and nastiness truly breaks loose. The first half of the film is overly stuffed with typical inbred jokes and stereotypical tourist behavior. There are a handful of downright disgusting sequences, notably a gruesome bear trap death sequence and a few close ups of pick-axes-in-the-head moments, which will undoubtedly appeal to the bloodhounds among us. The nature and wildlife images are dreamy to stare at and the acting performances are surprisingly above average. One of the lead actors is Leigh Whannell who, along with James Wan, created the original concept of "Saw".

Dying Breed is a waste. It is very very little about Tasmanian Tigers and more of a redo of some other horror movies.

Nothing new or different. Same old blood soaked chopping and slashing and women chasing.

Tired story line. Young people lost in woods find weirdos who eat people. Seen it before many times. BORING.

How to make a better movie. Drop the dumb dialogue, drop the dumb story line, get people who can act, they are called actors, less splash and more suspense, go back to telling an engaging story, and stop trying to be shocking. In fact, a good and well written movie would be shocking. Dying Breed sure was not anything worth seeing. The best part of dying breed were the few moments of the old (1930s) film clips of the Tasmaian Tiger

While I'm not sure that I'd watch Dying Breed again, I have to admit that I enjoyed it through the first time.

There are some great landscape shots in this movie and, overall, I felt the atmosphere was creepy, lending itself well to the dark tone of the picture. There was some suspense and a bit of gore as well. However, there was nothing really new or interesting in the plot. Similar movies have covered the same material before (Wrong Turn, perhaps to a lesser extent even The Chainsaw Massacre movies...) and although there's a link to an actual historical figure, it's a pretty weak link and there's no new twists to make this unique.

The characters are all pretty unlovable, so there's not much to relate to in that department.

The production values are high, so I have to recommend this over some of the other After Dark Horror Fest films I've seen. I feel it's a solid five; flawed but very watchable.