Variety Critics’ Choice 2017 / Hounds of Love / Australia 2016
An outwardly normal suburban couple who abduct, torture and murder schoolgirls must face their funny games in this genre-bending Australian thriller. Brave audiences will be rewarded, if that’s the word, with a harrowing ride that morphs from sharp horror to probing character study and back again.
An outwardly normal suburban Perth couple who abduct, torture, and murder schoolgirls must face their funny games in this genre-bending powerhouse thriller from first-time director Ben Young. Brave audiences will be rewarded, if that’s the word, with a harrowing ride that morphs from discrete horror to probing character study and back again in a vivid yet admirably restrained 108 minutes. Far from Michael Haneke-level lurid, the film generates a coiled depravity and almost unbearable tension from the determined tracking shots of cinematographer Michael McDermott and Dan Luscombe’s trance-like, Tangerine Dream-inspired score. For such a bold film to work, the performances must be all-in, and the three leads are committed to Young’s vision: Ashleigh Cummings is fearless as the would-be victim, while Emma Booth is terrifyingly skittish and Stephen Curry (who is, believe it or not, a popular Australian comedian) redolent of pure evil.
Eddie Cockrell
108 min / Color, DCP
Director Ben Young
/ Screenplay Ben Young
/ Dir. of Photography Michael McDermott
/ Music Dan Luscombe
/ Editor Merlin Eden
/ Art Director Louise Brady
/ Producer Melissa Kelly
/ Production Factor 30 Films
/ Cast Emma Booth, Ashleigh Cummings, Stephen Curry, Susie Porter, Damian de Montemas, Harrison Gilbertson
/ Sales Urban Distribution International
Ben Young (b. 1982, Subiaco, Australia) is a director, screenwriter, and occasional actor who has taken smaller roles in television series, films, and made-for-TV movies (An Accidental Soldier, 2013). He has worked on children’s TV shows and shot short films for the same demographic (Something Fishy, 2010; Bush Basher, 2011). He has experience with commercials and has made numerous music videos. The thriller Hounds of Love is his writer-director debut in features. Young is currently preparing another picture entitled Extinction.
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