Razor Eaters

"Robert Kennedy said: 'Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves.' Well, congratulations, Australia, you've earned us." – Razor Eaters. Shannon Young's Razor Eaters played at the Kansas Film Festival on 09/09/05. I didn't know much about it going in but I was blown away. Shannon Young and the detective, Paul Moder were in attendance and the Q&A was terrific. As an ultra violent low budget feature from Austrilia the story was terrific. Basically 5 criminals decide to take anarchistic vengeance upon society. They rampage throughout Melbourne videotaping their crimes and taunting the cops. Interesting twist; they decide to pay back criminals (except for the occasional football player , an advertising executive, a Parking Clerk and a Chinese girl). Regardless they swore to kill one drug dealer per day until the cops catch them. The movie gave a very plausible account of how they became anti-heroes. In fact in one scene they order T-shirts and then beat the guy when he tries to get paid. Afterwards he is proud to be beaten by the Razor Eaters and makes money by selling T-shirts (of course such a thing couldn't happen in America - why you would need to be a washed-up singer and sleep with 8 year old boys to get that kind of fame). A couple of final points. The Detective is a very interesting character. He is not a very good cop, not a lot of friends on the force, under suspicion for a "questionable" shooting. But he does track them down and well, enough said.

Razor Eaters is a great ultra-violent film. See it. BTW - The gang is called Razor Eaters for two reasons. The first is they are named after a true life monster who used to make some of his 19 victims eat razor blades. The second; the initials of all five members first names.

If any fans want to see 4 hours of extra features, buy the UK disc in 5.1 Surround. Includes 1 hour 'Making of' documentary, 30 deleted scenes, Music video, Fletcher's 'behind the scenes' video journal, Trailers and 'A look at FX'.

The UK version will soon be re-released through ILC entertainment with the new kick ass Australian designed cover early next year as well as the US ( who will also be releasing the Special Edition version)

Both these countries are planning on a theatrical release, so keep your eyes open for screenings. We will be in attendance for these.

For those of you seeking information on the real gang that inspired the film, The Hedge Burners rampaged their way through Melbourne during the mid eighties led by Mr Gregory A (name suppressed) AKA 'Lucifer' We spoke to the police officer who apprehended them. They were convicted on the videos they shot of their arson and vandalism attacks. Lucifer was gaoled for five years as a result. I contacted the gang but they declined to be interviewed, Scary dudes.

Paul Moder Producer

Being an Australian it was really good to see a very powerful movie from Australia yes there has been some good ones like Romper Stomper, Looking for Alabrandi Mad Max and so on but this one is the most powerful Australian movie i have even seen the actors were so good everything looked so real and not fake it was very VERY well done after it had finished i just felt like i had just watched the Boondock Saints for the first time and i was stunned with amazement 10 out of 10 for me.

So i don't Understand why people give this movie a hard time and funnily enough the people who do give it a hard time are not Australian lol why is that

America had The Manson Family Australia has the Razor Eaters (Except it was based on a gang called the Hedge Burners)

Felt I had to counter the comments on this film, many of which may well have been written by PR types or those close to the makers.

Just my opinion, but I thought this was appalling and amateurish and tedious. From the word go I hated it. It's shot on video, which is never a good thing: it exposes the dreadfulness of the acting, it makes the violence look fake, it makes the gore look unconvincing. It looks cheap and nasty, which is what this film, if you can call it that, is.

The gang simply aren't scary either, they're just idiots. The plot is banal. The statements it tries to make about the media's treatment of violence are portentous and unconvincing. The makers would like it if people bandied round the names of other, better films in relation to theirs, but I'm not even going to do that.

Avoid at all costs.

The titular Razor Eaters are a gang of Australian hooligans who decide to terrorize civilization and film their exploits, loosely based on a similar gang that rampaged through Melbourne. Their crimes are cruel and brutal. They kill without mercy. They burn people alive. And they even have official t-shirts.

Perhaps half of the movie focuses on the Razor Eaters, and the other half follows the hardened cop, Detective Danny Berdan (Paul Moder), who is trying to track them down. As with Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, both the detective and the nation itself follows the activities of the gang through the video tapes they leave behind. While many are terrified of the gang, others support their activities, in part because many of their crimes are committed against other criminals, although they use a very broad definition of the term criminal to include people they just don't like. For example, they promise to target drug dealers, but end up killing people for driving like idiots and having loud car stereos. They've also got issues against the media and those who create it, but by the end of the movie it becomes apparent that they are very much enjoying being a part of that media.

It should be noted that, while the actual segments that were filmed by the gang have a documentary feel to them (with the camera moving around all over the place), most of the movie is not shot this way. Personally, I think this gives the movie a more "realistic", true-to-life feel without rendering the entire film unwatchable.

I bought this movie as part of a four-movie set out of the bargain bin at a local department store, along with two other independent movies of the 2000's (and, for some reason, Night of the Living Dead, a movie that gets tacked on to just about any "horror" collection as filler). This is probably the best of the set. Honestly, I think it's worth watching for virtually everyone, but those fans of extreme cinema living down under should definitely consider checking it out.