Michael Ledo
Clyde Marshall (Col Elliott) is a crypto-zoologist who dies in the first scene looking for the Bunyip. The Bunyip is the Aussie Bigfoot who is part crocodile in how it gathers and stores its prey. Tristan (Tim Pocock) and his older brother Nick (Dan Ewing) inherit the land and have a hefty offer for it. A party is thrown at Tristan's place in the woods and the Bunyip is aroused.The production was too long. It takes an hour to set up the story and character was not that well established. Nick had a relationship with Anya (Sophie Don) and his leaving her was not made believable. In fact Nick made a moody protagonist who was at times as unlikable as BJ (Ben Chisholm) who we know is a drug dealing "d**k". The whole clandestine stuff could have been done better. The film was made for a teen crowd. It had that second rate made-for-TV quality to it. After an hour the action picked up and improved. We got to see the creature.Guide: F-word. Implied sex. No nudity. Jessica Green provides bikini eye candy.
herodotus2007
What begins as a promising premise, and remains so is immediately hampered by Dan Ewing and Tom Pockock's meeting. These ex-"Neighbours/ Home & Away" actors, and I use the term 'actor' loosely, undo any hint at danger in this dreadfully written script. The photography is good, the music quite good, but the 'acting' is absolutely appalling. Seriously, these guys and gals need to take some acting lessons or better still, spend some time on stage in the theater where actors learn how to act, not just pose for the camera. If they are graduates of established drama schools like NIDA or WAPA, then these schools have failed and should be treated as "Soapies feed factories. They sure as Hell don't teach acting skills. Dreadful script predictable to the end; characters so 2D they don't need to open their mouths; acting - just appallingly bad. what an abysmal entry that could have been so much more. Alas, it is a SyFy Channel movie transplanted to Australia at best. To think Dan Ewing is considered "an up and coming star". If he is, we're in trouble. He cannot, I repeat cannot act to save himself....or indeed this film.
conan-2
There is a reference to Scooby Doo in the movie and sadly much of the movie resembled the reference in terms of depth of character but in many other references. The combi = mystery mobile. The brave dog = Scooby The hammy American trying to buy the land. For all of those in Murica relax, it is an Aussie with a bad accent.This story needed many, many rewrites to make this thing sing. Sadly the usual Aussie formula of writer/director/producer being the same guy or gal rang true here. Nobody said "hey," this needs to be tighter or this makes no sense.-----For example ---- Brother had more drugs than Pablo Escobar and he was supposed to be dealing on the side. He seemed quite open to his brother about such a lot of drugs. Considering the drugs - everyone is too cute etc.The went to the town to buy food for breakfast but did not return until nightfall, all the better for the creepy scenes.What happened to the tribe? Only the tribal leader appears in the final scene.This movie is fun but really needed to be a lot tighter.The acting is fine for the two leads, the rest were clichéd if not hammy.The CGI was always going to be a problem as it is a monster movie it is hard to make something believable yet not of this world.
Hark-Brown
I went in not knowing what to expect from another Aussie film, but left very surprised at story about two brothers and a big outback monster.The cast were very good. I'm not a home and away fan, so never heard of the lead but the two male leads were excellent in capturing the Aussie spirit without making us look like cliché bogans. My favorites though would have to be Anya and BJ. Ayna, played by a new comer, gets into just as much of the action as the boys and that was really refreshing to see. BJ starts off really full on but becomes the the guy you can't help but like and laugh along with. About half way through, the film really picks up and the last act is pretty full on. The creature design is great and they did a good job with infusing our history and culture into the story line. I hope this becomes a franchise: there a lot of other Australian myths out there.
AD
