Redd Inc.

Chosen as the closing night film for the Australian Film Festival, could REDD INC. be the film that relaunches the ozploitation craze of the 70's and early 80's..? If the reaction from the sold out premiere audience is any gauge, the answer is a resounding "yes!"

Redd Inc. starts with news reports and clips informing us that a serial killer Thomas Reddmann (Nicholas Hope) known as the 'head-hunter' has perished in fire during an attempted escape from a local mental institution. Annabelle Hale (Kelly Paterniti) an online stripper who was a key witness at Reddmann's trial is kidnapped and wakes up chained to an office desk with 5 other people who were also involved with Reddmann's trial in various capacities.

The captives are soon introduced to Mr Reddmann who informs them that he is their regional manager and that they have a job to do. He declares that he is innocent and expects them to work to the best of their abilities to find the real head-hunter killer. Assigned to different tasks using the court case documents, the 6 captives get to work, or face a strike against their name, in the form of a cut to the forehead… 5 strikes and you're out.

Redd Inc. is a new low-budget Australian horror film from co-writers Anthony O'Connor and Jonathan Green (who also co-produces with Sandy Stevens), and director Daniel Krige; who have managed to deliver an original take on a familiar theme.

The ensemble cast are all good, with Nicholas Hope turning in a delightfully creepy performance as Redd and a nice cameo from Tom Savini who worked as special make-up effects supervisor. Newcomer Kelly Paterniti's character visibly grows in confidence throughout the film and she's probably one to watch. However, the real star is the script, littered with references to keep most genre fans happy; it's tight, menacing and genuinely funny. Described by scriptwriter Anthony O'Connor as "office giallo", placing the horror in the everyday office makes the setting instantly recognizable to most of us and therefore more unnerving due to that familiarity.

The effects which were done by Sydney based Make-up Effects Group (MEG), and supervised by the legendary Tom Savini, are suitably gory and in a few notable scenes had the cinema audience squirming. Slashes to foreheads, removal of fingernails, limbs and heads are all on display and considering the budget restrictions are all done exceptionally well.

I really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it unreservedly to any horror fan. With the release of last years The Tunnel and 2010's The Loved Ones, Australian horror seems to be back in a good way, original, gory and wickedly funny.

When I was invited to the preview of Redd Inc, I like others was not sure what to expect. Having seen Angst a few years ago on TV I at least knew I'd be getting a witty film, and I wasn't wrong. I'm a fairly picky horror fan, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It almost feels like a comic book in a lot of places, due to the colourful way it is shot and executed. It was unexpectedly funny, had characters I related to and I found myself rooting for their survival. The female lead is spunky and has character, she's not a cardboard cut-out. I enjoyed Redd Inc from start to finish, I felt it broke free of many of the flaws and traps that horror films seem to fall into. To go into more detail would be giving too much away. I highly recommend that horror fans see this one for themselves. It's not big Hollywood, it's definitely got that indie feel about it but there's fun to be had here.

I just finished watching the movie. It wasn't one of those serious slasher films. Even though I've seen innumerable horror movies, the movie still made me cringe. It is sure to make some of the audience want to cover their eyes during some killing scenes, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The movie was explicit about showing minor yet disturbing enough torture scenes, but seemed to deliberately censor the major ones, which is understandable given the fact that it wasn't meant to be a torture movie. The gore is not over the top and it is only there to contribute to the story progression. It is more of a detective movie, mixed with some joker-type madness, which slightly takes away from the seriousness of the violent scenes, and somehow makes you keep watching even if it makes you uncomfortable. You're going to watch a bunch of people trapped in a single location trying to work their way out. This means much of your time will be spent watching the characters have lengthy conversations with one another in order to solve a murder case. The movie is a mix of detective, torture, and comedy genres. I'm not into comedy movies, but it kind of made this movie more appealing. If it didn't have that funny feeling to it, I might have got bored due to it resembling many other movies of this type. I must say the story is very original and that alone makes this movie worth watching, although I'm pretty sure for most of you out there it's going to be a one-time watch only.

Just saw this movie at a film festival in Seoul and was quite impressed. As is generally the case with film festivals, I didn't quite know what to expect going in other than how it is similar to Saw. While the similarity is there, Redd, Inc. is certainly its own film and one that is worth watching. It involves a recently escaped mental patient/prisoner who believes himself to be innocent and kidnaps the unsuspecting people who were involved one way or another with the conviction.

The movie lacks the sort of pathetic dialog the worst parts of the Saw franchise often include as other films do, whether it's Saw, other horror movies, or other other movies that involve multiple people in a tumultuous situation. The dialog is often funny, usually necessary, and never drab.

The director was kind of enough to show up and say a few things about his film along with taking questions, during which time he brought up his love of the comedy/horror genre. Often times horror movies are funny when they don't want to be and corny when they are trying to be funny, but Redd Inc. does a good job achieving what it is trying to achieve at any given moment. In the end, everyone has a moment or many of feeling chained to their desks.

A great story and solid performances with flawless special effects, Inhuman resources stands out in the horror genre. The movie is tense with many edge of your seat moments combined with the fear and isolation of the 6 people held against there will. Nicholas Hope is perfectly cast in his role as their demented former office professional turned captor with his character ranging from a calm and professional boss to outright psychopathic and twisted.

The story takes twists and turns along the way and it's entertainment that keeps you clued to the screen giving the audience satisfaction for their time. With the movie industry churning out endless no star horror garbage, it's great to come across a film such as this where all the right boxes have been ticked