100 Bloody Acres

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100 Bloody Acres
File:100 Bloody Acres.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byCameron Cairnes
Colin Cairnes
Written byCameron Cairnes
Colin Cairnes
Produced byJulie Ryan
Kate Croser
StarringDamon Herriman
Angus Sampson
Anna McGahan
CinematographyJohn Brawley
Edited byDale Dunne
Joshua Waddell
Music byGlenn Richards
Production
company
Cyan Films
Distributed byHopscotch
Release date
  • 4 August 2012 (2012-08-04) (MIFF)[1]
Running time
90 minutes
Box office$6,388 (US)[2]

100 Bloody Acres is a 2012 Australian horror comedy film directed and written by brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes. Damon Herriman and Angus Sampson star as opportunistic, rural fertiliser manufacturers who resort to using human remains for their business. It premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 4 August 2012, and it was released in the United States on 28 June 2013.

Plot

Brothers Reg (Damon Herriman) and Lindsay Morgan (Angus Sampson) own and operate a small blood and bone fertiliser business in South Australia. While making local deliveries and the occasional roadkill pick up, Reg, a soft and friendly man, encounters the crash site of a van, and finds the driver dead inside. Recovering the body from the crash, he puts it in the back of his own truck. Making his way back to the brothers' plant, Reg is delayed again, this time by three tourists stuck on the side of the road: Sophie (Anna McGahan), a young woman; James (Oliver Ackland), Sophie's boyfriend; and Wes (James Kristian), James' friend. Reg takes an instant attraction to Sophie, and, against his better judgement, allows the three to ride with him.

Before the trio climb into the truck, Reg frantically hides the body beneath a pile of fertiliser sacks and manages to hide all of the evidence, explaining away the smell as manure and roadkill. Wes and James ride in the back of the truck with the hidden corpse, and Sophie rides up front with Reg. Sophie gets to know Reg and the two appear to form a bond. Sophie confides in Reg that she’s having an affair with Wes, and Reg attempts to comfort her. Meanwhile in the back of the truck, James tells Wes that he plans to marry Sophie.

To pass the time, Wes offers James a tab of LSD, which James declines. Wes nevertheless consumes the LSD, only to suddenly discover the corpse of the van driver. The two, in fear for their lives, try to persuade Reg to pull over under the guise of needing fresh air from the smell. Pretending to let the boys out, Reg fearfully threatens them, all without Sophie realising something’s wrong. When the boys reveal they know about the body, Reg begins to panic and pulls back onto the road. Sophie starts to find things in common with Reg, but Reg's anxiety continues to get the better of him. This unnerves Sophie, and, as soon as the truck arrives at the plant, Reg detains her.

The rough, angry and volatile Lindsay arrives and demands to know what is going on. Reg suggests that they can grind the people into fertiliser, and Lindsay berates him for his lack of planning for such a bold crime. Ultimately, Lindsay agrees to Reg's idea, and it is revealed that the pair have ground humans in the past, in order to create a new formula for their fertiliser. The brothers had once ground up a group of charity volunteers who crashed and died in a nearby road accident. Reg manages to convince Lindsay that their product needs a component that gives them an edge over the competition, and uses a new, major client as collateral in justifying his crimes.

Wes and James are soon detained with Sophie, and the trio watch as Reg and Lindsay grind the driver. When Wes cuts himself loose and escapes, Lindsay pursues him. Sophie takes advantage of the situation and attempts to seduce Reg, much to James' chagrin. Reg catches on to the ruse and exposes Sophie's infidelity with Wes, further angering James. The chains suspending James above the boiler are beginning to slip, and a frantic Sophie watches James drop lower and lower.

Wes manages to flee to a nearby attraction, where he evades Lindsay and lures him to a secluded area. When Lindsay is distracted, Wes strikes him over the head, knocking him out. Wes runs out to Lindsay’s car, only to realise that the keys must still be with Lindsay. Before he can retrieve the keys and make a clean getaway, the LSD begins to take effect, and Wes begins to deeply hallucinate. Lindsay regains consciousness. In a state of euphoria, Wes mistakenly approaches Lindsay, who strikes and captures Wes, trapping him in the back of his car.

While driving back to the farm, Lindsay is pulled over by state police officer Burke (referred to as “Burkey”, played by John Jarratt), who is investigating the van crash that Reg encountered earlier. While Officer Burke chats with Lindsay, he observes a knocking coming from the back of Lindsay’s car. Lindsay convinces Burke that the noise is thanks to a twitching, nearly dead kangaroo he found on the side of the road. Just as Burke prepares to leave, Wes screams out, and Lindsay opens to boot. As Burke scrambles to get help, Lindsay shoots him, loading him into the back of the car.

Lindsay soon returns with Wes and Burke. Reg now begins to have serious second thoughts about their actions and plan, especially since he admitted his feelings of attraction to Sophie. Reg saves James, who’s now suspended and gagged. When Reg removes James’ gag, only for James to insult Sophie, Reg smacks him. Flustered, Reg hears Lindsay return and attempts to reason with him. Reg stands up to Lindsay, only for Lindsay to beat him down. Lindsay drags Reg to the car, and Reg absentmindedly opens the boot. Still somewhat hallucinating, Wes fires a shot at Reg, hitting him in the shoulder. Lindsay strikes the gun out of Wes’ hand, cutting Wes’ fingers and part of his palm off in the process. When Nancy (Chrissie Page), their elderly neighbour, surprises the brothers with a visit, Lindsay stuffs Reg in a car boot with Wes. Reg comforts Wes, and they work together to escape. Reg enters the house alone to confront his brother.

Reg overhears Lindsay tell Nancy that Reg has moved away, perhaps permanently. As Reg gathers his courage, Lindsay and Nancy begin to have sex. Severely disturbed, Reg decides instead to stealthily steal Lindsay's keys. As he is about to take them, Wes stumbles into the house, looking for his missing hand. In a fit of rage, Lindsay kills Wes and Nancy, and Reg flees with the keys. James and Sophie panic when they hear the gunshots, but Sophie decides to return to the farm when she hears Reg call out to her; James angrily breaks up with Sophie as she leaves. After a brief struggle, Lindsay overpowers and ties up Reg. As Lindsay prepares Reg for grinding, Sophie returns and distracts Lindsay. Reg is able to pull him in to the grinder, killing him; afterward, Sophie and Reg share a momentary attraction. In a post credits scene, James hysterically runs onto the road and is killed by a reckless driver.

Cast

Production

Producer Julie Ryan met the Cairnes brothers at the Australian Film Commission's IndiVision Lab in 2008, and her company Cyan Films, became attached to the project just prior to the Cairnes brothers winning the Horror-Thriller category for scriptwriting at the 2010 Slamdance Writing Competition. The film was funded by Screen Australia, South Australian Film Corporation, Film Victoria and the Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund.[1] In January 2012, production for the film started in Adelaide, South Australia.[3]

Release

The film premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2012.[1] It was then an Official Selection at the 2013 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival,[4] and released in the US 28 June 2013.[5]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 79% of 38 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 6.48/10.[6] Metacritic rated it 63/100.[7] Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com called it "the best low-budget horror comedy since Shaun of the Dead, and one of the most assured first features in ages."[8] Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote that film lacks originality but "has its own hick charm, mostly because of performers who never overplay their hands."[9] Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times called it a "giddy, delightful gross-out horror-comedy mash-up".[10] Drew Hunt of the Chicago Reader wrote, "Though entertaining enough as a genre exercise, the film is too simplistic to transcend its base concept."[11] Megan Lehmann of The Hollywood Reporter called it an "off-the-wall Australian splatter-comedy" with "lively performances" and "a shrewdly structured screenplay".[12] Richard Kuipers of Variety called it "a gory and funny riff on the trusty standby of city kids being menaced by rural types".[13] Kwenton Bellette of Twitch Film wrote that it "stand out from most horrors; it plays with convention and molds it into a sick and twisted form."[14]

Awards

Award Category Subject Result
AACTA Award
(3rd) 		Best Original Screenplay Cameron Cairnes
Colin Cairnes 		Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Angus Sampson Nominated
Australian Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Best Actor Damon Herriman Nominated
Best Actress Anna McGahan Nominated
Best Script Cameron Cairnes
Colin Cairnes 		Nominated
Catalan International Film Festival Carnet Jove Jury Award - Midnight X-Treme Won

References

  1. ^ a b c Groves, Don (16 July 2012). "100 Bloody Acres mixes gags and gore". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  2. ^ "100 Bloody Acres". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  3. ^ Swift, Brendan (16 January 2012). "100 Bloody Acres begins production with Damon Herriman and Angus Sampson". IF.com.au. Archived from the original on 25 February 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  4. ^ "100 Bloody Acres". BIFFF (Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival). Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  5. ^ Turek, Ryan (27 June 2013). "Watch an Exclusive Clip from 100 Bloody Acres". Shock Till You Drop. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  6. ^ "100 Bloody Acres (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  7. ^ "100 Bloody Acres". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  8. ^ Seitz, Matt Zoller (28 June 2013). "100 Bloody Acres". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  9. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (27 June 2013). "Think Fertilizer Is Yucky? Try This Kind". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  10. ^ Olsen, Mark (27 June 2013). "Review: '100 Bloody Acres' of goofball gore". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  11. ^ Hunt, Drew (27 June 2013). "100 Bloody Acres". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  12. ^ Lehmann, Megan (26 June 2013). "100 Bloody Acres: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  13. ^ Kuipers, Richard (19 August 2012). "100 Bloody Acres". Variety Magazine. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  14. ^ Bellette, Kwenton (20 August 2012). "MIFF 2012 Review: 100 BLOODY ACRES world premiere". Twitch Film. Archived from the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.

External links

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