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Outback Terror
Director Jonathan Neil Dixon uses the Australian outback as the backdrop for his cinematic tale of a road trip, which descends into terror and madness.
"The first thing that people say is, ‘Oh, are you making another Wolf Creek?'" director Jonathan Neil Dixon tells us about his feature debut, which follows a road-tripping group of friends who become terrorised by three unknown strangers. "Wrath is not a serial killer movie and it's not a gory movie either. Sure it has its moments, but really it's a psychological thriller that takes the audiences on an uncertain rollercoaster ride with twists and turns everywhere."
It's unsurprising to hear people immediately comparing Dixon's debut feature to 2005's Wolf Creek - the unforgettable tale of a backpacking trip that goes terrifyingly wrong. Dixon, however, insists that Wrath is a different beast ("Most of the violence happens off-screen and is left to the viewers' imagination"), and cites such films as the fifties, sixties and seventies thrillers, Asphalt Jungle, Rififi, Touch of Evil and Marathon Man, as references. Still, Wrath has at least one element in common with Greg Mclean's modern classic: they both take place in the Australian outback, with the landscape painted as a sinister and unforgiving place.
Wolf Creek may be the tale freshest in the memory of local audiences but Australia has a history of setting its films against our awe-inspiring but eerily desolate outback. Dixon, who moved to Australia from the UK fifteen years ago, was similarly fascinated by our landscape. "The concept was hatched when I was driving with my wife through Northern NSW and had the overwhelming feeling that anything is possible out there," he says. "The outback and rural Australia can be such a lonely and lawless land where anything can happen and no one would ever be the wiser."
Spending two months scouting for locations to tell his story only confirmed Dixon's initial gut reaction. "I found myself standing on a lonely stretch of road in the middle of nowhere and all I could feel was danger and loneliness," the director recalls. "It made me feel vulnerable... and not to mention the eccentric locals! International audiences are always fascinated by Australia and that is why so many Australian films like Mad Max, Wolf Creek and even The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert have found success overseas."
As well as finding the right locations, Dixon had to find the perfect cast, which he admits was a lengthy process given that the director, who had previously only helmed a couple of short films and music videos, had a limited budget ("I saved like a squirrel hording for winter in order to raise the finance independently"). Keenly aware that the internet is swarming with unsigned acting talent, the director sparked an online campaign calling for actors. "I opened the flood gates to submissions and placed casting notices online by listing the scenes and descriptions to several relevant sites," he says. "This enabled actors who were both represented and not to submit their audition tapes to us via YouTube and Vimeo. We received a staggering amount of submissions."
A six week process, Dixon knew it was crucial to find the right actors given how much the director would be calling on them to exert physically and mentally every day. "The filming process was extremely gruelling and emotional," Dixon recalls. "I had to get under the actors' skin and more often than not, after each take they were balling their eyes out. The amount of realism that I demanded was certainly hard on them but at the end of the day that shows on screen."
Unsurprisingly, it's this level of realism that has seen the film prove tricky to sell and distribute. Dixon, however, has scored considerable success overseas, with Wrath selling in twenty territories, but he's yet to find an Australian distributor. "Several companies voiced their opinion that the film was far too intense and realistic and that they were unsure how to market it where several others were jumping all over it," Dixon recalls. "We decided to sign with Lightning Entertainment who understood the project. It was launched to international buyers at the American Film Market in November. But we don't actually have an Australian distributor yet which really does surprise me considering that it's an Australian film. So it looks like Australian audiences will have to buy the DVD from overseas at the moment!"
For more on Wrath and to watch the trailer, go here.
