Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Alexander Whitrow, Edward Boyd, Sarah Milde, Robert Bell, Erik Strauts
Intro:
… a well-paced thriller, which hits the ground running with an extremely tense opening scene, and never really lets up.
Filmmaker Alexander Whitrow marks his feature length debut with Roadkill, a thriller set in the South Australian outback, which sees a low-level criminal trying to escape his life and getting a lot more than he bargained for.
Whitrow, who also takes on writer, producer and editor duties, plays the aforementioned crim, Connor. As far as his girlfriend Lucy (Sarah Milde) is concerned, Connor works in the mines, coming home with tales of his colleagues getting in trouble on site. In reality, Connor travels the outback in his bright red Honda, mugging unsuspecting motorists.
The film is quick to show that the protagonist is a thief with a moral conscience – when a new victim refuses to bend to his will, Connor can be seen hesitating about whether to use his gun.
While it’s hardly a criminal empire, Connor is successful at what he does. And then one day, he holds up a man (Edward Boyd), who seems nonplussed about his misfortune. In fact, much to our anti-hero’s surprise, he even knows Connor’s name.
Escaping with his bounty of $20, Connor has no idea that the man he has robbed is wanted for several murders. Simply known as The Killer in the credits, this unnamed man quotes from Revelations and advises the police force that he’s on a quest from the Almighty.
While our two leads chase each other down, Whitrow throws the thin blue line into the mix in the shape of Detectives Albert (Robert Bell) and Ernest (Erik Strauts), the latter Lucy’s uncle who thinks that all roads illegal point towards Connor.
With both the police and a serial killer after him, Connor is about to have a very bad day.
Shot on a modest budget, Roadkill is a well-paced thriller, which hits the ground running with an extremely tense opening scene, and never really lets up. Sure, some of the dialogue is overwrought and the acting is a mixed bag, but these can be easily overlooked. Particularly considering how Whitrow embraces the gorgeous scenery around him; the bloodshed and violence contrasting with the beauty of the land.
Sticking with the theme of Australian land, whether this is deliberate or not, Whitrow and Boyd seem to embody an aspect of its white colonial history. With his face mask made from the Aussie flag, Connor is a modern-day bushranger adapting to the land and trying to make a future for himself. Meanwhile, his nemesis, with his homicidal interpretation of the bible wants to conquer the land, and shape it into his own image. This could be a case of hearing hooves and thinking zebras, but once you pick up the idea, it’s hard to put down.
Overall, with its bleak outlook on life and often unbearable tension, Roadkill is a sun-bleached piece of Ozploitation in the vein of Roadgames. Whitrow is certainly someone to look out for in the future.
For more information, head to: https://roadkillmovie.com.au/
