|
Post by endo on Mar 18, 2012 16:59:09 GMT -5
"There were a series of murders between 1992 and 1999 in South Australia that became known as “The Snowtown Murders”, or the “Bodies in Barrels murders”, and after the perpetrators were arrested and charged the Court in Australia issued a huge number of suppression orders to prevent publication of the details of the case. The producers of the film “Snowtown”, later known as The Snowtown Murders, requested a lifting of the suppression orders and was finally successful in 2011. The result is this film. The story surrounds Elizabeth Harvey (Louise Harris) and her children from a couple of different unions, living in a poor section of South Australia. A family friend in her projects-like neighborhood offers to watch her three boys while she is off running errands, and while she is away has the boys pose for lewd pictures – he is a pedophile. A ragtag group of individuals converge on Elizabeth and inform her of the pictures that they somehow found out about, and then start meeting at The Snowtown Murders (2012) - Jamie on a bicycleher house to complain about their view of a pedophilia “epidemic” that is going on in the area. The leader of this group of “activists” is John Bunting (Daniel Henshall), a charming and unassuming man with quite a bit of anger lurking underneath the surface. The oldest of Elizabeth’s children, Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) longs for a father figure, and latches on to Bunting. Jamie has been particularly victimized, both by the neighbor as well as by his older half-brother who regularly sodomizes him… sometimes right on the living room floor when mother is away. Over time Jamie begins to realize that Bunting is inclined, not only to torment and drive away those who he considers “perverts”, but to actually make them “go away”, rather violently. The Snowtown Murders plays a bit like a murder thriller, but more like a docu-drama that sets up real situations and how they can go terribly wrong with a sociopath at the reigns. There is a clear attempt to soften the horror of a serial killer responsible for the murder of almost a dozen people by depicting those “disposed of” as somehow worthy of their untimely demise. There are also great pains taken to explain how those around the ringleader Bunting could have grown to participate in The Snowtown Murders (2012) - Daniel Henshall as John buntingthe killings through a combination of their personal tragedies and by the framing of a reality where it all makes sense by the mastermind Bunting and his subtle yet powerful manipulations. Interestingly Jamie Vlassakis, who was both a victim of severe abuse and a participant in torture and murders of several of the slain, is represented as highly manipulated by Bunting in the film, and in real-life became the star witness against Bunting at the trial. The Snowtown Murders is very interesting and highly uncomfortable to watch as it tackles subject matter that has been handled by a good number of “movies of the week” over the decades, but takes things so much further than one would ever see Judith Light go on the Lifetime Channel. This film inspires disgust and a good bit of squirming because it’s horrifyingly real while also somehow understandable. The Snowtown Murders is a great film that would be a bit unbelieveable had the subject matter not come directly from testimony from the actual case. Thankfully nobody is presented as a pure victim of circumstance because clear decision-points present themselves for all involved, and they choose the dark path. Understandable? In many cases, yes… but horrifying nonetheless." www.best-horror-movies.com/the-snowtown-murders-2012-review.htmlWow, that's a long read. If you're still here, this sounds pretty good. Supposedly released in the US March 2, 2012. I haven't heard anything about it, but I'll be DVD'ing it anyway.
|
|