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Australia is a continent with a deep cinematic tradition, creating some of the most engaging and intense thrillers of all time. Filmmakers and creators use what's on their doorstep, combining expansive raw landscapes and unique cultural traditions with captivating stories of the outback to produce some incredible films. The one-of-a-kind aesthetic provides the backdrop for films focused on isolation, violence, and survival in one of the harshest climates on earth.

Popular Australian thrillers effectively convey these themes masterfully, such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, which explores using the cruelty and mystique of the Australian bush to elevate its intricate narrative, and The Nightingale, which focuses on the Aboriginal cultures and history of Tasmania to provide context to its story. Australian thrillers all have their own distinct style while delivering a consistently mature and suspenseful thriller with perfect endings, expertly paced, that keep audiences hooked until the credits roll.

Killing Ground...

Summer’s here, and while everyone else is out getting sunburned and dodging mosquitoes, we know where the real fun is: chilling with a good horror flick. Forget the beach – let’s dive into some summer horror movies that are criminally underrated. We’re talking about the hidden gems that will have you questioning every rustle in the bushes and shadow in the water.

Why settle for the same old scares when you can uncover something new and terrifying? Buckle up, grab your flashlight, and let’s explore ten summer horror movies that deserve way more love. These aren’t your standard summer slasher flicks; we’re going off the beaten path to bring you some seriously spooky surprises.

IFC Midnight 10. Killing Ground (2016)

Killing Ground is an Australian horror film that turns a romantic camping trip into a nightmare. The story follows Ian (Ian Meadows) and Samantha (Harriet Dyer) as...

Over the past week or so, Cleveland has been transformed into the Dcu's Metropolis for Superman. Now, DC Studios boss and filmmaker James Gunn has arrived on set to begin shooting.

David Corenswet has been spotted as the new Man of Steel, though he's mostly covered up in a cloak (meaning we get to see Superman's collar and little else). He certainly looks the part of the hero, anyway, and should be revealed in all his red and blue glory soon enough.

The military and police have also arrived in Metropolis, seemingly in response to whatever will emerge from that massive spaceship that's landed near The Daily Planet.

People dressed all in black have been spotted with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, while we can see that there's a fair bit of destruction on the city streets. We're assuming they're hostages and, on closer inspection, there are a couple...

Before we go any further: No, Chris Pratt is not in Superman, but the Guardians of the Galaxy star did pay a visit to set along with some more of director James Gunn's pals for a little preview of some footage.

Gunn shared a behind-the-scenes photo to Instagram of himself, Pratt and several other people watching a monitor, presumably as a scene from the upcoming Dcu reboot was being filmed.

Shooting is currently underway in Cleveland, Ohio, and the city streets have been transformed into Metropolis. We recently caught a glimpse of one of the storefronts displaying the Daily Planet logo, and we now have a first look at The Leader Building doubling as the iconic newspaper's base of operations itself.

The photos spotlight the main entrance and lobby. We're not sure if the Planet's signature globe will sit atop the skyscraper, but that's something that would likely be added in post,...

Exclusive: The first season of hit Australian drama Rfds, which portrays the modern heroes of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, has been sold by Banijay Rights across Europe and the Middle East.

Australian Seven Network’s gripping show has been picked up by Sky Italia, Ireland’s Rte, M7 Group S.A. in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, TV Joj in Slovakia and The Walt Disney Company in Africa and the Middle East.

The highly-rated show has just been renewed for a second season.

The sales follow earlier deals struck with the UK’s Channel 4, U.S. network PBS, Tvnz New Zealand and several other European territories, and the second season is currently being written by Ian Meadows and Claire Phillips.

Produced by Endemol Shine Australia, the first run followed the doctors, nurses, pilots and support staff who work for the Rfds. The second season comes a year after Eliza left Broken Hill behind,...

HBO Max released a trailer for the second season of “The Other Two,” premiering Aug 26.

The second season sees ChaseDreams (Case Walker) entering retirement, leaving his older siblings Cary (Drew Tarver) and Brooke (Heléne Yorke) to contend with a new famous family member: their mother Pat (Molly Shannon), who is now a talk show host.

The first two episodes will launch on Aug. 26, and then the next eight episodes of the season will drop two at a time up to and including on Sept. 16. The show is created, written and executive produced by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider and also executive produced by by Lorne Michaels, Andrew Singer and Tony Hernandez. Eddie Michaels, Toye Adegboro and Kaylani Esparza produce. Directors for the season include Kelly, Schneider, Kim Nguyen, Mike Karnell and Charlie Gruet.

Watch the trailer below.

Also in today’s TV news roundup:

Dates Epix announced that “Fiasco,” a...

Seven Network action drama Rfds will launch in a further six territories following its Australian premiere this month after securing a slew of international sales.

Distributor Banijay Rights confirmed the program has been acquired by Channel 4 for More 4 in the UK, PBS in the US, TV4 in Sweden, Sbs in Belgium, Talpa in the Netherlands, and Tvnz in New Zealand.

Banijay Rights EVP for sales and acquisitions Emea Claire Jago said the company was pleased with the widespread interest in Rfds.

“Based on extraordinary real-life stories, Rfds is a powerful drama series that not only perfectly chronicles the edge-of-your-seat emergencies our heroes attend, but also the sense of community that brings these lives together,” she said.

Filmed on location in and around Broken Hill, Rfds portrays the modern-day personnel of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, capturing the challenges for doctors, nurses, pilots, and support staff in conducting emergency...

Australian drama “Rfds: Royal Flying Doctor Service” has been sold to a range of global broadcasters including PBS in the U.S. and Channel 4 in the U.K.

It has also been acquired by Sweden’s TV4, Belgium’s Sbs, Talpa in the Netherlands and New Zealand’s Tvnz. In the U.K. it will be broadcast on Channel 4’s More 4.

“Rfds: Royal Flying Doctor Service,” which charts the fictional lives of the pilots, doctors, nurses and support staff working within the Royal Flying Doctor Service, premieres on Australia’s Channel 7 and 7Plus next Wednesday.

The real Rfds, who participated in the series, is tasked with rescuing people from some of Australia’s most inhospitable terrains. Endemol Shine spent over a year researching the service, interviewing pilots, doctors and patients and even filmed some of the series on a real Rfds base.

Co-created by Imogen Banks, Mark Fennessy and Ian Meadows,...

Netflix has released a new teaser for its upcoming limited series thriller, Clickbait, which will premiere on August 25th.

The show stars Adrian Grenier as Nick Brewer, a seemingly upstanding father, husband, and brother who suddenly disappears one day and winds up at the center of a deadly viral stunt. Beaten and bloody, Nick appears on camera holding cards that read, “I abuse women. At 5 million views, I die.”

The Clickbait teaser offers a glimpse at the frantic chaos that ensues as Nick’s sister (played by Zoe Kazan) and...

Based on real-life stories, Rfds portrays the modern-day heroes of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The new action-drama from Endemol Shine Banks is coming soon to Channel 7 and 7plus, starring Stephen Peacocke, Rob Collins, Emma Hamilton, Justine Clarke and Ash Ricardo.

Filmed on location in and around Broken Hill, Rfds captures the beauty and brutality of Australia’s vast centre where the doctors and the nurses, pilots and support staff of the Rfds negotiate the unique challenges of emergency rescues across some of the most inhospitable places in the country

Imogen Banks co-created the series with Mark Fennessy and Ian Meadows, and produces with Sara Richardson. Jennifer Leacey is the set-up director, with Jeremy Sims and Adrian Russell Wills.

Writers include Meadows, Claire Phillips, Wills and Jon Bell.

Rfds has received major production investment from Seven in association with Screen Australia. It was financed with support from Screen Nsw...

‘Holey Moley.’

The Seven Network is counting on new and returning franchises and three new Australian dramas to maintain ratings momentum next year.

Unveiling its 2021 schedule today, Seven trumpeted The Voice, Holey Moley, Ultimate Tag, Big Brother, Farmer Wants a Wife, Australia’s Got Talent and the renewal of Sas Australia.

The network also revealed it will revive Fremantle’s Australian Idol, which last screened on Network 10 in 2009. Production on the reboot is due to start mid-year and it will premiere in February 2022.

The dramas are Endemol Shine Banks’ Rfds ; Roadshow Rough Diamond’s Australian Gangster, which finally makes the schedule after a three-year delay due to legal issues; and the second season of Every Cloud Productions’ Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, a co-commission with North American streamer Acorn TV.

Among the new factual entertainment shows, Blink TV’s Australia: Now and Then, will ask celebrities, comedians, musicians,...

Imogen Banks (Photo credit: Daniel Asher Smith).

When Endemol Shine Australia’s Mark Fennessy and Imogen Banks started developing a drama inspired by the Royal Flying Doctors Service two years ago, neither could have imagined how much more topical and relevant the subject would become.

Based on the true-life heroics of the service’s doctors, nurses, pilots and support staff, the eight-part Seven Network drama Rfds (working title) started shooting in Broken Hill today with Jennifer Leacey as the set-up director. Leacey is directing four episodes and Jeremy Sims and Adrian Russell Wills are each helming two.

“The series feels very timely with what is going on in the world at the moment,” Banks, who is producing with Sara Richardson, tells If.

Banks, who co-created the series with Fennessy, based on his original idea, and Ian Meadows, continues: “We’re very lucky to be telling a story about people who...

The Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The Seven Network’s drama centred on the staff and patients of the Royal Flying Doctor Service is the latest production casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

Pre-production was underway and Endemol Shine Australia (Esa) had intended to start shooting in Broken Hill in late April with Jennifer Leacey as the set-up director.

An Esa spokesperson told If: “Due to the ever changing situation of Covid-19, it has been decided to temporarily suspend pre-production of Rfds (working title). We will continue to assess the situation to determine when production can recommence.

“We remain committed to working with the incredible Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Broken Hill community and look forward to telling their stories.”

Based on real-life events, the series created by Imogen Banks will follow the doctors, nurses, pilots and support staff of the Rfds at work and in their private lives.

The cast...

Daniel Henshall (Photo credit: Alex Vaughan).

Daniel Henshall and Ian Meadows have joined the cast of Clickbait, the Netflix-commissioned eight-part thriller shooting in Melbourne.

Co-created by Tony Ayres and Christian White, the Us-set series explores the ways in which dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media and the ever widening fractures between virtual and real-life personas.

As If reported, Zoe Kazan stars as Pia Brewer, a young woman who is desperate for answers in the search for her missing brother in a case that has become a media sensation.

Betty Gabriel and Adrian Grenier play Sophie and Nick Brewer, a couple in Oakland who get caught up in a bizarre crime, with Phoenix Raie as Roshan Amir, an Oakland detective who investigates the case.

Henshall portrays Simon Oxley, a traumatized social media moderator who is looking for a way to gain some control over the situation.

Exclusive: Abraham Lim (The Catch), Jessica Collins (Revolution), Ian Meadows (Dead Lucky), Daniel Henshall (Okja), Motell Foster (Foxhole), Jaylin Fletcher (Snowpiercer) and Camaron Engels (Malibu Rescue) have joined the cast of Clickbait, Netflix’s eight-episode character-based thriller series from Tony Ayres (The Slap), David Heyman, NBCUniversal International Studios and Australian-based Matchbox Pictures. Principal photography is underway in Melbourne, Australia.

Co-written by Ayres and Christian White, Clickbait explores the ways in which our most dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media and reveals the ever widening fractures we find between our virtual and real-life personas.

Lim will play Ben Park, a ruthlessly ambitious junior news producer who lives for clicks, likes, and views. Ben is willing to wade into ethically murky waters if it means getting what he wants.

Collins will portray Emma Beesley, a seemingly successful...

‘Between Two Worlds.’

When James Warburton was appointed CEO of Seven West Media succeeding Tim Worner he vowed to revitalise the Seven Network’s entertainment programming, focusing primarily on Sunday-Thursday primetime.

Warburton looks like delivering on that promise next year with a raft of initiatives including refreshes for My Kitchen Rules and House Rules, Endemol Shine Australia’s action-drama Rfds and Cjz’s four-part investigation of the disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio.

The line-up includes Esa’s revival of Big Brother, Screentime’s endurance competition Sas: Who Dares Wins, Eureka Productions’ extreme mini-golf competition Mega Mini Golf and Seven Studios’ Plate of Origin, billed as the “Olympics of cooking.”

Fremantle and Eureka will co-produce a new version of Farmer Wants a Wife, a format which previously aired on the Nine Network, while Fremantle’s Australia’s Got Talent has been renewed for a second season.

“I’ve been clear...

Tamara Asmar.

Screenwriting is often such a lonely pursuit that Tamara Asmar really relishes her time brainstorming in writers’ rooms, likening the experience to being in a confessional.

“These are places where people divulge the most personal, hilarious, moving and heartbreaking things about their lives,” says the prolific writer whose credits include Doctor Doctor, On the Ropes, Love Child and Beat Bugs.

“That feeds into stories, sparks ideas and takes you down different narrative pathways that you otherwise would not have. I have definitely contributed some stories, cleverly masked.”

Currently Asmar is juggling multiple projects in development including Aleph, an eight-part series created by Miranda Nation for Porchlight Films, a fantasy drama for Jungle Entertainment and a movie for Easy Tiger which she now thinks is better suited to TV.

Screen Australia is funding the story development of Aleph, which follows a woman who is faced with the choice between...

The writers of All Is True, Hotel Mumbai, Relic, Ride Like a Girl and The Favourite have been nominated for best original feature film in the 52nd annual Awgie Awards.

Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears (Deb Cox) and True History of the Kelly Gang (Shaun Grant) are the contenders for the feature film adaptation category.

Andrew Knight scored two nominations, for Ride Like a Girl (shared with Elise McCredie) and for TV series or miniseries for an episode of ABC’s Jack Irish, competing with Bloom (Glen Dolman), Secret City: Under the Eagle (Matt Cameron) and The End (Samantha Strauss).

Ben Elton wrote All is True, John Collee and Anthony Maras wrote Hotel Mumbai, Christian White and Natalie Erika James scripted Relic and Tony McNamara and Deborah Davis collaborated on The Favourite.

In the running for telemovie or miniseries up to four hours are The Cry (Jacquelin Perske...

‘A Moody Christmas’

The Fox network has commissioned a Us remake of Jungle Entertainment’s A Moody Christmas, the comedy series which followed Dan Moody as he returned home to spend Christmas with his dysfunctional family.

Trent O’Donnell and Phil Lloyd created the Australian show, the precursor to the series The Moodys, for Jungleboys (now Jungle Entertainment) and the ABC.

O’Donnell directed the 2012 series which featured the ensemble cast of Patrick Brammall as Dan, Ian Meadows, Jane Harber, Danny Adcock, Robina Beard, Tina Bursill, Guy Edmonds, Darren Gilshenan, Rachel Gordon and Lloyd.

Jungle Entertainment’s Jason Burrows, Lloyd and O’Donnell will serve as executive producers on the six episode remake produced by CBS TV Studios and Fox Entertainment.

This will be the third Jungle-originated show for the Us this year, joining CBS All Access’ No Activity series 3 and FX’s Mr Inbetween season 2.

Six years on from The Moodys,...

Sigrid Thornton and John Howard.

Brooke Satchwell, Dan Wyllie, Darren McMullen and Katrina Milosevic have joined the cast of Every Cloud Productions and ITV Studios Australia’s SeaChange, which started production today.

Wayne Blair is the set up director and Lois Randall is producing the Nine Network reboot set 20 years after the ABC series created by Deb Cox and Andrew Knight.

Sigrid Thornton reprises her role as Laura Gibson, who returns to Pearl Bay after the breakup of her marriage and losing her job. Questioning her place in the world she learns that her family and her town need her as much as she needs them.

John Howard returns as the former mayor Bob Jelly with Kerry Armstrong as Heather Jelly, his estranged wife, and Kevin Harrington as local business owner Kev Findlay.

Satchwell is Miranda Gibson, Laura’s daughter. Also new to the cast are Ella Newton, Kate Lister and Alex Tarrant.

Damien Power (Photo credit: Shutterstock).

In his Hollywood debut Damien Power will direct No Exit, a thriller based on a novel by Taylor Adams, for 20th Century Fox.

Adapted by Andrew Barrer and Gabe Ferrari (Ant-Man and the Wasp), the plot follows college student Darby Thorne, who, while on the way home to visit her mother, gets stranded in a blizzard at a highway rest stop with four strangers.

During the night Thorne discovers a little girl locked in the boot of one of the cars but she doesn’t know whose car. Without cell or phone reception and trapped by the snow, she must figure out who is the kidnapper.

The producer is Scott Frank, who wrote the screenplay of Fox’s Wolverine adventure Logan, which starred Hugh Jackman. Frank also created, wrote and directed Netflix’s Western series Godless.

It will be Power’s second feature following his debut Killing Ground,...

‘Playing for Keeps.’

The overnight ratings on Wednesdays for Network 10’s Playing for Keeps were respectable but the catch-up numbers are so healthy the broadcaster has commissioned a second series.

The first seven episodes of the Screentime-produced drama drew an average audience of 503,000, including time-shifted viewing, in the mainland capitals.

But the catch-up component jumped from 9 per cent for the premiere to 25.9 per cent for episode 5, 17.9 per cent for ep 6 and 21 per cent for ep 7.

The finale had 599,000 capital city viewers, which was up by 49 per cent or 197,000 viewers from the overnight number, including broadcast VOD viewing and the encore screening.

“We’re thrilled that Playing for Keeps has really found its place in the market,” said Network 10 head of drama Rick Maier, who came up with the idea of the show about Afl footballers’ wives and girlfriends and took it to Screentime.

“It’s become a bit of...

Aaron Glenane in ‘Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.’

Aaron Glenane is honoured to be among the 10 finalists for this year’s Heath Ledger Scholarship, which will be announced by Australians in Film (AiF) on Friday local time.

“It’s very moving to have the support of AiF and the industry behind you,” the actor tells If from the Toronto set of his current production. “That says, ‘You’re doing all right, keep going.’”

The fellow finalists for the $US30,000 Scholarship are Harvey Zielinski, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Ezekiel Simat, Gemma Bird Matheson, Kipan Rothbury, Brenna Harding, Bethany Whitmore, Charmaine Bingwa and Nicholas Denton.

Arguably Glenane is doing rather better than all right after scoring roles this year in his current project, Kriv Stenders’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like a Girl and Drunk History, Eureka Productions’ half-hour comedy which screened during Network Ten’s Pilot Week.

Now that November is in full swing, we have a brand new batch of Blu-ray and DVD releases to look forward to this week. Scream Factory is keeping busy with the releases of both Darkman II and III, as well as co-presenting Killing Ground and Darkness Rising alongside IFC Midnight.

As far as other new titles are concerned, there’s a bunch coming our way on Tuesday, including Ghastlies, The Limehouse Golem, Dead Still, Mother Krampus, Demon Hole, and Westworld Season 1. And for you cult film fanatics, both Satan’s Cheerleaders and John Landis’ thriller Into the Night are both making their way to Blu, too.

Other November 7th releases include Beneath, The Nightmare, The Untamed, and The Tormenting.

Darkman II: The Return of Durant (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)

The crime-fighting master of disguises returns in this action-packed sequel to the hit motion picture. Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy, G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra...

In the isolated wilderness, sometimes human nature can be more primal than Mother Nature, as evidenced in the new film Killing Ground, coming to Blu-ray / DVD on November 7th from Scream Factory. To celebrate the new home media release, we've been provided with three Blu-ray / DVD combo pack copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray / DVD combo pack copy of Killing Ground.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “Killing Ground Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on November 13th.

Get your scream on with these new frightful stories from today's Horror Highlights! Screambox's "13 Screams of Halloween" kicked off this past Friday the 13th and will continue until the big day. Also: Netflix's Slasher Season 2 details, Scream Factory's latest Blu-ray releases, a trailer for Sightings, details for the immersive experience Apartment 213, Grimmwood, and Party Bus From Hell.

Details on "13 Screams of Halloween" from Screambox: Press Release: "Los Angeles, Calif. (October 12, 2017) Screambox, the leading streaming service for hardcore horror fans, is celebrating the Halloween season with a fun treat: 13 new fan-favorite films will be released completely free for streaming on any device from Friday the 13th of October through Halloween, October 31st. Even more thrilling, these top-rated, terrifying titles are exclusive to Screambox -- true horror lovers won’t find these films on any other major streaming service, including Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.

“It’s been a great year for Screambox,...

There’s a familiar look about this Australian outback survival thriller but it’s handled with uncompromising pace and confidence

Structured with a cruel precision, written and acted with a persuasive naturalism, this disturbing Australian survival thriller won’t appeal to everyone. The use (and abuse) of a very young child in peril as a plot device is something I approach with caution, but in this case, without giving away too much of the final act, I feel it is largely justified by the story. It’s not an easy watch, however. Pieced together like a crime picture, but marked with the bloody thumbprint of the horror genre, the film tells of newly engaged couple Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows), who discover an abandoned tent and evidence of a multiple murder. Although not as overtly grisly as the outback horror Wolf Creek by Greg Mclean, the two films...

Sam (Harriet Dyer) tries to help a lost child in Killing Ground

Are you a fan of camping? It remains popular with the general public but films from The Blair Witch Project to Ruin Me may have made the average horror fan a bit more wary. If you haven't yet got the message, Damien Power's Killing Ground may make all the difference. It's the story of young couple Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows), whose holiday is interrupted when they grow suspicious about a tent that seems to be abandoned - and subsequently find a toddler wandering alone in the woods.

Before I spoke with Damien, I had heard a rumour that the story developed as a result if him finding such a tent himself. He laughs when I tell him this.

"It actually came to me as image of an orange tent. It just popped into my head,...

Writer-director Damien Power’s blood-splotched debut feature is an outback thriller as beautifully made as it is terrifying

Australian cinema has another magnificently talented prince of darkness to emerge as a major force in 2017, dropping jaws and spreading a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. Tasmanian-born writer-director Damien Power’s holiday-from-hell thriller Killing Ground combines great aesthetic elegance – including beautiful cinematography and naturalistic editing – with an acrid, lingering foulness, derived from knife-edge performances and a terrifying premise executed with airtight verisimilitude.

After a world premiere at the 2016 Melbourne international film festival, the film’s theatrical release arrives not long after Ben Young’s ostentatious, soul-sucking debut Hounds of Love, making this a vintage year for hotshot homegrown spooksters. Killing Ground’s plot revolves around Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows) venturing into the bush for New Year’s Eve, to camp at a secluded riverbank Ian recalls from his youth.

The Australian horror film Killing Ground has a lot of great performances, but it doesn’t quite deliver on its promise...

There’s no denying that Killing Ground is an impressive debut feature. Writer-director Damien Power, making the step up from short film, pens winningly realistic dialogue and always finds unique framing for his shots. The stylistic stuff is nicely done, but the substance it’s wrapped around leaves a bit to be desired.

The basic set up isn’t really the problem, and it’s simple enough: two separate camping trips take place in the Australian wilderness, and neither group stays happy campers for long. Harriet Dyer and Ian Meadows put in highly likeable performances as Sam and Ian, a smitten young couple who take a tent to the beach and soon come to regret it. Julian Garner, Maya Strange and Tiarnie Coupland play a similarly adorable family, who...

One of the much buzzed about titles out of this past year's Sundance Film Festival Midnight program was a new Australian horror movie titled Killing Ground.

Outback horror is not new to North American audiences but writer/director Damien Power's debut feature is of particular note for the humanity it brings to both the victims and the perpetrators, something which is often overlooked in horror movies which are more interested in the gore than providing insight into characters - particularly the ugly ones.

Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows) leave the city for a weekend of camping. The pair arrive at their secluded spot and find the area is already occupied but their temporary neighbours are no where to be seen.

The couple's so-far uneventful trip soon turns chaot [Continued ...]...

I love horror movies that are disquieting and suspenseful. I hate horror movies that traffic in sheer cruelty and stupidity. So I love the first half of Killing Ground. Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows) are the prototypical romantic couple from the city who head off into the remote woods for a little rest and recreation. It's a very familiar premise, to the point that horror movie devotees will assume that the supposedly sophisticated people from the city will undoubtedly cross paths with savage country bumpkins, leading to blood flowing freely and bodies piling up. That's not exactly the way it goes, though. Damien Power, who wrote and directed, previously made a series of short films, and his experience becomes evident as the story...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Starring Ian Meadows, Harriet Dyer, Aaron Glenane, Aaron Pedersen Directed by Damien Power I’ve seen thousands of horror movies. Many thousands. At least several hundred have covered the exact same ground as Killing Ground. To wit, a family of campers… Continue Reading →

The post Killing Ground (2017) appeared first on Dread Central.

Review by Mark Longden

Although I’d be unlikely to say this about any other sub-genres, “family turns off road onto dirt track” movies feel a little played-out, like “seen one, seem them all” . A surprising thing to say about a genre with entries as varied as “Manos: The Hands Of Fate” and “The Evil Dead”, perhaps, but no less true; which is why it’s especially nice to see someone come up with a fascinating new twist on the genre, as first-time feature director Damien Power has done with Killing Ground.

Ian (Ian Meadows) and his girlfriend Sam (Harriet Dyer) are off for a weekend’s camping. Stopping at a bar to buy champagne and beer – he’s celebrating graduating from medical school – they meet German (Aaron Pederson), who looks like your stereotypical backwoods lunatic but is actually surprisingly helpful. When they arrive at the idyll-ish campsite, they see...

Seth Metoyer,

MoreHorror.com

IFC Midnight has sent over the first official clip from the horror, thriller film Killing Ground. The film will be released in theaters and VOD on July 21, 2017.

Check out the clip below the synopsis and a word from the director. Also dig on the poster art, I think it's tight.

Synopsis

A couple’s romantic camping trip becomes a desperate fight for survival in this ultra-raw, unhinged kill ride. In need of a break from the pressures of their life in the city, Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows) head to a remote beach for a weekend getaway. When they come across an abandoned campsite, with no trace of its occupants, they’re concerned. When they discover a lone, traumatized child nearby, they’re scared. And when they encounter two local weirdos, they’re in for a hell of a bad time. Unfolding in an innovative,...

The glass of a car window is all that separates a young woman from a predator (of the human variety) in the woods in a tense new clip from Killing Ground.

Written and directed by Damien Power, Killing Ground stars Stephen Hunter, Harriet Dyer, Aaron Pederson, Ian Meadows, and Aaron Glenane. IFC Midnight will release Killing Ground in theaters and on VOD beginning July 21st.

Synopsis: "A couple’s romantic camping trip becomes a desperate fight for survival in this ultra-raw, unhinged kill ride. In need of a break from the pressures of their life in the city, Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows) head to a remote beach for a weekend getaway. When they come across an abandoned campsite, with no trace of its occupants, they’re concerned. When they discover a lone, traumatized child nearby, they’re scared. And when they encounter two local sociopaths (Aaron Glenane,...

If you’re looking for an excuse to spend more time at home and out of the summer heat this month, then July’s VOD and Digital HD releases have you more than covered, as we have 17 different titles coming our way in the next few weeks.

July kicks off with a pair of digital debuts on July 4th—Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire and the indie thriller Blood Hunters—and just a few days later, both Bad Frank and the new Ghost in the Shell movie make their digital bows as well. July 11th is a busy day, too, with four different releases—The Answer, The Blessed Ones, White Raven, and Gremlin—and then just a week later, we get several more titles to choose from, including Lake Alice, Phoenix Forgotten, and Bonejangles.

July’s VOD releases are capped off by the digital debuts of Killing Ground on July...

When you go camping, you never know who you might encounter in the isolated wilderness, and the new poster for IFC Midnight's Killing Ground sends a foreboding message to outdoor enthusiasts. Also in today's Horror Highlights is a trailer for The Sublet and clips and release details for the horror comedy Hank Boyd is Dead.

Killing Ground Poster: Written and directed by Damien Power, Killing Ground stars Stephen Hunter, Harriet Dyer, Aaron Pederson, Ian Meadows, and Aaron Glenane. IFC Midnight will release Killing Ground in theaters and on VOD beginning July 21st. In case you missed it, read our own Heather Wixson's Sundance review of Killing Ground.

Synopsis: "A couple’s romantic camping trip becomes a desperate fight for survival in this ultra-raw, unhinged kill ride. In need of a break from the pressures of their life in the city, Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows) head...

Author: Steven Neish

It is often joked that in Australia everything wants to kill you, but while the vast majority are probably referring to the famously dangerous wildlife world cineastes are likely to be just as cautious of the people who live there. From Animal Kingdom to Wolf Creek, Snowtown to The Loved One, it seems as though you can’t trust your neighbours down under after all. Tasmanian writer-director Damien Power isn’t likely to change that with his debut feature, a blisteringly brutal horror thriller that will have you crossing out another Australian beauty spot and leaving your camping equipment behind.

It’s New Year’s Eve in the Australian outback, and Ian (Ian Meadows) is determined to spend the night with Sam (Harriet Dyer) a fondly remembered falls from his youth, despite the protestations of a local redneck (Aaron Pedersen as German) who insists that there is...

Nothing will reconnect a couple that needs to rekindle their bond more than their fight for survival during a tense and life-altering weekend. That desperate battle for endurance is highlighted in the new official Us trailer for the upcoming horror movie, ‘Killing Ground.’ IFC Midnight has debuted the trailer in support of the Australian thriller’s […]

The post Harriet Dyer and Ian Meadows Enter the Killing Ground in Official Us Trailer appeared first on Shockya.com.

On behalf of IFC Midnight, we are pleased to share the Official Us Trailer for the disturbing horror/thriller film Killing Ground. A brutal tale of survival that will have your heart racing, Killing Ground marks the debut feature of writer/director Damien Power and stars Australian actors Aaron Pedersen (ABC’s “Jack Irish”), Ian Meadows (Network Ten’s …

The post Killing Ground | Check Out the Official Us Trailer! first appeared on Hnn | Horrornews.net 2017 - Official Horror News Site...

I had the opportunity to see Killing Ground at Sundance earlier this year and I wish I would have skipped it. It's not that the movie was poorly made, it's that the subject matter was just too intense for me. The story follows a couple who goes on a camping trip and they slowly start to realize that something is wrong about the place they are camping. This all leads to them being terrorized by two psychopaths.  

It's a pretty simple premise, but it's the way that it was executed that just disturbed the hell out of me. The horrific events that played out over the course of the movie were done so realistically that it made me sick to my stomach. That rarely happens to me! But there was just an uncomfortable evilness about this movie that got to me. 

If that's your kind of thing, you're gonna love this movie.

I have a real soft spot for Australian horror movies, especially the ones which unfold in nature. It's like the adventurer soul that Ausies are known for comes through in the movies and that seems to be true of Killing Ground.

Writer/director Damien Power's latest stars Harriet Dyer and Ian Meadows as Sam and Ian, a couple who set out for a remote beach for a weekend camping trip. On the beach they discover an abandoned campsite and later, a lost child in the woods. Things turn nasty when a pair of locals come stumbling into their already off-kilter vacation.

Killing Ground premiered at Sundance earlier this year and has been toted as brutal, relentless horror movie and though the trailer doesn't really show anything horrific, it certainly builds a grea [Continued ...]...

"This isn't right..." IFC Midnight has revealed the official trailer for an intense horror thriller titled Killing Ground, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. This indie thriller from Australia is about a couple who go camping to get out of the city, only to discover two creepy psychopaths tormenting the area. The film has "unexpected twists and turns" and is said to feature "nerve-shredding suspense and gut-punching realism". Starring Stephen Hunter, Harriet Dyer, Aaron Pederson, Ian Meadows, and Aaron Glenane. This definitely looks harrowing and, as one of the quotes says, relentless in its intensity. As one of the other quotes states, this will probably make me never want to go camping again. Take a look. Here's the first official trailer for Damien Power's Killing Ground, direct from YouTube: A couple's romantic camping trip becomes a desperate fight for survival in this ultra-raw, unhinged kill ride.

Kililng Ground is the debut feature film of Australian writer/director Damien Power. IFC Midnight will release the film in Theaters and On Demand on Friday, July 21st and they have released their trailer to mark the release. A couple’s romantic camping trip becomes a desperate fight for survival in this ultra-raw, unhinged kill ride. In need of a break from the pressures of their life in the city, Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows) head to a remote beach for a weekend getaway. When they come across an abandoned campsite, with no trace of its occupants, they’re concerned. When they discover a lone, traumatized child nearby, they’re scared. And when they encounter two local weirdos, they’re in for a hell of a bad...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Isolation can be absolute bliss, but when you run across the wrong people, it can also be pure hell. We've been excited for Daily Dead readers to see Killing Ground ever since our own Heather Wixson saw the film at Sundance (read her review here), and now a new trailer has been revealed by IFC Midnight ahead of the film's Us release this July.

Written and directed by Damien Power, Killing Ground stars Stephen Hunter, Harriet Dyer, Aaron Pederson, Ian Meadows, and Aaron Glenane. IFC Midnight will release Killing Ground in theaters and on VOD beginning July 21st.

Synopsis: "A couple’s romantic camping trip becomes a desperate fight for survival in this ultra-raw, unhinged kill ride. In need of a break from the pressures of their life in the city, Sam (Harriet Dyer) and Ian (Ian Meadows) head to a remote beach for a weekend getaway. When they come across an abandoned campsite,...

There’s something about the Australian landscape that’s prime for horror. As evidenced just this year with the recent acclaimed thriller Hounds of Love, we now have another export from the country with Killing Ground. Directed by Damien Power, the Sundance premiere which gets a release next month follows a camping trip gone brutally wrong. Ahead of the U.S. release, an intense new trailer has now arrived.

“A rather satisfactory thriller from Aussie filmmaker Damien Power, Killing Ground is casually engaging and skillfully plotted, despite a bland absence of nuance in its execution,” we said in our review. “While occasionally as suspenseful as a good Jeremy Saulnier thriller, the film lacks all of the visual style or command of frame and composition found in those vastly superior works. Imagine a solid B-thriller, directed with the cleverness of a straight-to-vhs pot boiler.”

Starring Stephen Hunter, Harriet Dyer, Aaron Pederson,...

Scratch the surface of any festival and you’re bound to turn up a barrage of tiny gems, films that got overlooked from the glitzier packages hogging the red carpet. And this year at the Sundance Film Festival, horror hounds likely heard the buzz surround the Aussie flick “Killing Ground.” Whether they did or not, it’s now on the way, and you won’t want to miss it.

Starring Harriet Dyer, Aaron Glenane, Aaron Pederson, and Ian Meadows, and directed by Damien Power, the premise is familiar: a couple goes camping in the woods, only to encounter some very nasty business.

Continue reading Terror Comes To The Campground In New Trailer For Horror ‘Killing Ground’ at The Playlist.

The Park City deals continued to roll in on Wednesday.

IFC Midnight has picked up Us rights from Films Distribution to Midnight selection Killing Ground.

Damien Power’s directorial debut follows a couple on a weekend getaway who discover an empty tent and a lone toddler.

Aaron Pedersen, Ian Meadows, Harriet Dyer and Aaron Glenane star. Joe Weatherstone and Lisa Shaunessy produced.

Meanwhile FilmRise has picked up North American rights from Visit Films to Dayveon and plans a late spring theatrical release slated.

Arkansas-based filmmaker Amman Abbasi makes his feature directorial debut on the Next drama, which stars newcomer Devin Blackmon as a 13-year-old mourning the death of his older brother who falls in with a local gang.

Abbasi produced alongside Lachion Buckingham and Alexander Uhlmann. Executive producers are David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, Danny McBride, Brandon James, Lisa Muskat, James Schamus, Joe Pirro, Todd Remis, Isaiah Smallman, and Barlow Jacobs.

Following its international premiere at Sundance, Damien Power’s Australian horror film Killing Ground is being picked up for North American distribution by IFC Midnight.

The news of the acquisition comes from TheWrap. It’s not yet known when IFC Midnight will release Killing Ground in North America, but we’ll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers posted on further updates.

As part of our live coverage of the Sundance Film Festival, Daily Dead’s Heather Wixson reviewed Killing Ground, calling it “a brutal game of survival.”

Written and directed by Damien Power, Killing Ground stars Aaron Pedersen, Ian Meadows, Harriet Dyer, Maya Stange, and Aaron Glenane. Check out the official synopsis and trailer below, and in case you missed it, read Heather’s interview with Power, Stange, and Glenane.

Killing Ground synopsis: “Ian and Samantha head to a national park, hoping that nature will give them space for some quiet time together.