Daddy's Little Girl

I've heard a lot about Chris Sun, but have been disappointed that I haven't seen his work until now. Coming into Daddy's Little Girl, I wasn't expecting too much, considering it was very low budget and the fact that Australian Cinema has been very weak lately. While the storyline is very similar to that of "7 Days" (a superior father avenging his little girls death movie) it still had quality in it for me to recommend it. To start off with, yes it is low budget so there comes the usual problems. The acting is hit and miss and the sound can sometimes fade, but putting all that aside, the movie really stands up for Independent Filmmakers in my country. The effects are second to none. They really are! It was extremely brutal and some might dismiss it as "torture porn" but for me, i thought it played its part. Showing that violence is very destructive and serves no positive purpose. That it can transform the best of people to mere monsters. I wasn't expecting that from this film and it really got to me.

With a lot of "made for television soap dramas" polluting Australian screens, people like Chris Sun need to be encouraged, because its this type of film maker that will get Australia back to the glory days of the Ozploitation 70's Golden years.

Oy! What a film. It started off on the slow, cliched side, but once it picked up steam,, became a no holds barred, down and dirty, rough and ready, gore fest. Revenge movies like these ("The Woman," "I Spit On Your Grave," "Revenge," etc.) make you wonder just how depraved a man or woman can get in their hunger for vengeance.

To be fair, the acting in this flick was fair to middling. A lot more work could've went into character development and the cinematography was also fair to middling. Then again, it was a low budget movie, so I suppose that's to be expected. There were a few plot holes here and there, but they're not important in terms of how the film develops. Is this a film worth checking out? Sure. It may even make you squirm in your seat.

Much to like about this home grown horror. Left me feeling a little squeamish and teary-eyed. Some great acting moments from all the cast and I hope we get to see their talents more in future Australia and international roles. Excellent original music that added a lot of depth and tension in key moments, shifting from the delicate piano led motifs to dense string laden attacks, continually coming back to repeating themes and playing on the push/pull game giving the film a sonic and emotional force not many other Australian films often have. For much of the film I was playing the guessing game. Who did it? Who in this circle of friends/family would do such a thing? Occasionally I thought I had it and I didn't. A few interesting turns surprised me and I was gripped for the duration of the film. Looking forward to future projects from director Chris Sun.

OK, it's not a masterpiece, and I don't either think it claims or expects to be one, it is clearly low-budgeted and flawed, but it does its job: entertain. Actually, the setup part is a little too long, it could have been done better and more effectively without many useless, slow paced scenes, getting straight to the point and using more time to analyze the characters and the relationship between them.

But when it does start, wow... this is torture porn at its goriest. I'm not a huge fan of blood and gore, but I liked the concept behind this movie. The message that I got from it is that, whatever bad a human being might be able to do, taking revenge, an eye for an eye, simply means lowering yourself to his own level of inhumanity. We do have law and punishment for a reason, not to masochistically give up any rightful feeling of revenge we might carry inside ourselves.

The slaughterer turns into the victim, the victim turns into the slaughterer, what is the difference between them at the end of the movie? Just one, made by Derek's final decision, which I won't spoil here. But it's no big deal, Derek is not human anymore, anyway. Not anymore than his victim.

All in all, philosophy apart, it's definitely worth a watch, if you can stand hard torture scenes and can overlook the bad acting and low budget setup.

I more or less enjoyed the movie, but I did find myself fast forwarding through some of the brutality.

Make no mistake about it - this is a brutal movie - not generally my favorite kind but it was reasonably well done.

I particularly liked the acting of the main character, and its his attitude that makes this movie watchable.

Not for the weak of heart... but you could do worse.