The Brutality of Australian Horror

Hi! a couple of corrections:
Firstly, Razorback is from 1984 and long weekend from 1978.

Secondly, I said Steven Irwin instead of Steve. Sorry!

And finally, I used the term 'native Australians/people' in this video and have been alerted that this isn't an appropriate term in Australia. Sorry for this mistake and I hope it hasn't caused any offence.

That aside, thank u so much for all ur lovely comments, insights and recommendations 🌹

Great video! I’m subscribing, Thank you.

I loved this video, this is the first thing of yours I’ve seen and I’m now a fan! Some excellent analysis going on here.

I’m sorry but with regards to Snowtown… “Small town of Salisbury” it’s literally a suburb of Adelaide, it’s just the northern suburbs have a lot of the lower socioeconomic people. I grew up here, it is not a town.

Wake in Fright is so funny because this guy literally loses all his money gambling (cause greed) and then some people in this small town are kind enough to put him up and let him drink their beer for free over the weekend, and this guy has the nerve to act like it’s the worst thing in the world.

My first thought apon seenimg the question raised in the thumbnail was that our horror has to top our poetry somehow, and we have a story of a guy drowning himself to avoid arrest (Walzting Matilda), a story that most likely ends with a guy running his horse to death (The Man From Snowy River) and a whole host of others to top

Your odd inflectionnnnns at the end of almost every sentencccceee are off puttinnngggg. It is hard to listen to youuuuu. Keep up the great woooorrrkkk

try going across the top end alone you'll figure it out

Im from Australia Wolf Creek 2 greatest movie ever made.

Can you please make a list of the films you mention/show. It’s a lot easier to work with a list than to go through the transcript for titles
Ty ✌️

I’d love to hear your take on Brandon Cronenburg’s Infinity Pool (2023). Definitely one of my new favorite horrors, but it’s definitely weird!

I live in Salisbury, it's actually a suburb of Adelaide. Not that it makes it any better…

For Australians of a certain age – my age – we were raised on stories of bunyips and ghosts sitting on the railings of remote country bridges – often bathed in moonlight that lights up the ghost gums Aka silverbark trees). That was back in the times when kids read books instead of surfing the internet.

Its that kind of sensibility that informs australian directors and writers of a certain age – and thats where what you are calling ozploitation movies have their roots. We were raised on borror stories where the country was pivotal. Of course thats going to inform the art of people raised like that. And by the way, stories of bunyips and remote country ghosts (the ‘hero’ of waltzing Matilda is literally one of our traditional remote country ghosts), were great. You probably couldnt find any of those books today – out of print. But they were well worth reading. Kids today have likely never heard of bunyips.

Ive spent a lot of time out in remote locations with the australian army and in the north west. The size of the country can have a very peculiar effect on you, especially if you have spectacular weather or natural events, such as the mars-like red light of some setting suns. It can sometimes feel like you are on another planet. And that you are very very tiny. Its hard to describe unless youve been out there. Its very easy to achieve a sense of spirituality out there.

Im sure all countries and cultures have their own traditional ghost stories based on their own geography.

Incidentally, ‘razorback’ is really a borrowing from americans. Its not really an Australian concept. The word has seeped in – a bit – because of the movie, but its straight from the usa. The movie itself is just jaws in pig form. I saw it in cinemas in my late teens and while it was a fun movie most people were a bit baffled by it. Its an australian movie, technically, but its really just an american movie with Australian accents.

Snowtown is really a movie that sits squarely in class with The Boys – probably the most devastating psychological movie you could ever see, based in one of the worst crimes ever committed in Australia – Animal kingdom, and Nitram. All based on true crimes, all exploring the disconnect of certain elements in our communities.

The epitome of what youre talking about is probably 1971’s Walkabout. Some people regard it as horror.

From an Aussie, this was really well done. Thankyou for your hard work. I can't stand horror, but I really can't stand Aussie horror. It's far too scary for me. The nature, accents, etc. are too familiar. I do appreciate the use of nature as its own character.

Was enjoying your video until you became somewhat righteous in your dialogue, especially first noted when colonialism became a narrative. Giving off a tone that the desert itself is somehow misrepresented as harsh, isolated and dangerous, because the indigenous population has had historical connection to the country, so they apparently see it differently?!. There are plenty of desert based horror (not only Australian) that sequentially imply the same conceptual narrative – harsh, isolated and/or dangerous. Traditionally aboriginal people were nomadic moving across arid areas for greener pastures, like sailors at sea, navigating the dangers and respecting the terrain, it comes hand in hand with survival. I feel colonialism was an unnecessary way to de-legitimise outback horrors to perceivably give a ‘but there is an alternative’ platform to native Australian horror film creators, in Australia only 17% of the indigenous population live in remote areas, they too have the creative right to display isolated and desolate areas as horrifying. Fear is universal, triggers are not, what triggers some may not trigger others, what some find lonely and isolating others may find peaceful and embracing no matter the heritage background. Celebrating art should always be the priority, because it invokes curiosity, thought and feeling. I appreciate your attempt to feel inclusive, but watch that it is not at the cost of isolating others to do so. Being Australian is about inclusivity, so please refrain from the them/us narrative, that is why there was a no vote, not because of historical conservatism, but the inherent belief that all people have the same right to voice where the country is going into the future (seeing you did get political). I’ll get off my soapbox, now I’ve got to exercise the right to define an alternative perspective.

I just watched the nightingale 4 time it was so very the horror film. It was a I believe it was the anti-Commonwealth. That tells was the movie even aboriginals with the anti-Commonwealth In Australia I do know about this?

why are your sleeves wet?

Holy crap. Your tats look like a mob of kids attacked you with stickers. Not to be rude I'm sure they are individually beautiful ❤️

Just wanted to mention a few more movies on the Horror side I couldn't remember if you mentioned.
Australia does seem to have a unique filming for its movies that I can see sets us out.
– Wyrmwood
– Babadook – I found this a great psychological horror
– Rippy (this one hasn't come out yet)

Snowtown the movie was bit of a let down, I've been to Snowtown and it's was one of the most disturbing experiences of my life. I never want to go back there, ever.

Lake Mungo however is one of the creepiest films I've ever watched. It gives "I've stayed up too late watching ABC true crime" vibes.

Living where so many Australian horror films are based is somewhat iconic. 😊

You’ve really done your research. Brilliant work. As an Aussie and a horror film lover you do us justice 🫀😵‍💫😘

I’m a city boy through and through. Having said that I spend a week or so each year in the far flung outback on pig culling trips. I find there is something uniquely unsettling about being alone on moonless night. It’s so pitch dark you can barely see the ground at your feet and you know there is maybe a farmer and his wife and nobody else for fifty kilometres in any direction. Literally anything could transpire. There’s no phone reception, there’s no way to find help, nobody would find you for days if ever.

The Mad Max scene when the mother and baby get run over, the baby shoe rolling down the road. 😮

Aussies are brutal, specially the hooligans in the desert, this aint cinema, its a series of documentary's

lost me with the crap about "colonizers" and "government sanctioned indigenous massacres".
If you come to our country, it's rude and condescending to insult us like that.
Learn some aussie history that isn't leftard propaganda.

Hey this video was beautiful. Thank you for showing Australia in such a beautiful and nuanced way.

great vid, i just found you. notable exceptions in yr essay, ghosts of the civil dead, that is horrific & patrick. (but maybe they didn't fit yr thesis, which was excellent). also, find yourself a copy of ribspreader (2022), it's great schlock horror shot in adelaide.

that whole bit about nothing being more horrifying than how people treat strangers on the internet: that earned you a follow my friend. Keep up the good work, this video was EXTREMELY interesting. Honestly, I'm gunna have one or two more listens, just to nail down the ideas. It's incredible. Thank you much–these things take time, effort, energy and passion–none of which can be duplicated, replicated or regained. MUCH appreciated

Great discussion. One film that is hard to get and quite brilliant is called The Boys. It was one of only two films I've seen people walk out on during the screening. It actually has hardly any violence in it but similar to Snowtown it creates a constant state of terrifying menace. Highly recommended 🙌

great video!

I have to disagree about the hunting scene in Wake in Fright. That isn't meant to be a normal hunt, it is the spiteful and vengeful release of an emasculated society, and the indoctrination of John into that world. Seen through a post-colonial lens, it symbolises how we see the land we live on, our brutal, uncaring exploitation of it, and how new generations and immigrants accept it. John is fine with it until his own masculinity is threatened, and he himself becomes an object.

You forgot Rouge….nothing like a salty chomping tourist

Wait…. "talk to me" doesn't scream Australia because of its suburban setting? 90% of Australians live in suburbia…