Kadaicha: La pierre de la mort

I saw this film once late at night when it was played on television. It really isn't at all good, and I don't recommend it, but for me it was one of those films with a really strange feel about it. I can't remember too much of the film because I saw it so long ago but it had a strange feel about it which I enjoyed.

All I can remember of the plot is that if you find this Aboriginal stone on your pillow when you wake up, you are cursed and will die. Now, I think the reason for this is that these people live in an area over sacred Aboriginal ground, and the Aborigines have cursed the people who live there. Totally absurd I know, but there are a few gruesome deaths, one nasty one with a spider.

If you can find it, have a look, but its not that great. A silly look at Aboriginality, because I don't think Aborigines would be that way inclined.

Residents of a small housing development are being butchered off after finding strange rocks on themselves. Seems that the houses were built upon an old graveyard. Low budgeted flick has an interesting enough premise, but falls very short of its goals mainly due to an extremely low budget, shoddy camera work and a weak, below par cast. Rated R; Violence.

Low-budget Oz shocker mostly delivers what it promises as the teenage inhabitants of a residential estate run afoul an ancient Aboriginal curse.

Ideal for the teenage video market, whilst the cast are obviously older than the school-age students they depict, this isn't anything unusual and certainly doesn't detract from the otherwise tense mood. Sometimes resembles an MTV video, the make-up effects are gory and the killing devices are imaginative albeit the body count is relatively limited.

Likeable cast features Zoe Carides becoming increasingly concerned by the actions of her father (Oldfield) after she learns that the commercial development he oversaw lies above an ancient Aboriginal burial ground. Supporting cast is an all-Aussie affair with Tom Jennings (who was prominent in 'Sons & Daughters' around the same time), Natalie McCurry ('Chances') and Deborah ('not happy Jan') Kennedy as the sage school teacher whose knowledge of the ancient stones' meaning heralds the subsequent danger. Some viewers might also recognise Anthony Ackroyd in a blink-and-you'll-miss it part as a police constable sickened to discover the mutilated corpse of one of the curse's hapless victims, whilst Sean Scully, Alan Lovell and Steve Dodd are also potentially familiar faces to local audiences.

Plenty of colourful dialogue, garish 80s wardrobe and superfluous musical numbers, whilst another reviewer mentioned a Brisbane setting, this looks more like New South Wales landscape & housing (and vehicle regos).

Aside from the final act which feels a little unresolved, it's a decent exploitation effort with committed performances, contemporaneously a little less eerie than 'Spook' but just a little more professional than 'Houseboat Horror' and worthy of an Ozploitation film aficionado's burgeoning collection 😊

Kadaicha are ancient Aborigine stones whose hellish curse reaches from beyond the grave.Anyone receiving such a stone is doomed to die in terrifying circumstances.A group of local teenagers are each experiencing the same nightmarish dream about an eerie cave with sinister rock paintings and the brooding evil which dwells within.Each awakens to find an evil stone lying coldly next to them...The plot sounds really good,but the film is only decent.There are some gruesome death scenes like the spider sequence in the library,and the score is suitably creepy and menacing.7 out of 10-okay horror film!

Australian horror Kadaicha is a little bit Poltergeist and a little bit A Nightmare on Elm Street, but - and this probably goes without saying - it is not as good as either of those classics.

The film opens as a teenage girl wakes from a nightmare to find a strange crystal in her hand. At Kangaloola High, her teacher identifies the stone as a Kadaicha, which was given by Aboriginal shamen to people condemned to die; sure enough, the girl is found dead soon after, seemingly attacked by a wild animal. Other students share similar inexplicable fates, leaving Gail Sorensen (Zoe Carides) to try and find out how to stop the curse before she becomes the latest victim.

It eventually transpires that the Kangaloola estate was constructed on the site of an ancient Aboriginal burial ground (that old chestnut), Gail's father, the developer, having ignored the discovery while building was in progress. This lack of originality is matched by the lack of suspense and absence of genuine horror, the death scenes being rather unimaginative and light on gore (if the film had matched the creativity of A Nightmare on Elm Street's inventive kills, it would have been a lot more memorable).

The rushed and underwhelming finale sees Gail recruiting a local Aboriginal magic man to fight the power of the Kadaicha in an unremarkable battle of good against evil.

3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for IMDb.