Savages Crossing (2011)

A motley group of strangers are all forced to seek refuge at a remote outback roadhouse due to severe flooding caused by a fierce torrential downpour. However, one of these people proves to be every bit as dangerous as the savage storm that's raging outside. Director Kevin James Dobson, working from a compact script by John and Cody Jarratt, keeps the absorbing story moving along at a brisk pace, creates and sustains a substantial amount of claustrophobic suspense, maintains a hard gritty tone throughout, and makes good use of the isolated outback setting. Moreover, Dobson's taut and economical style doesn't waste a single minute and thus ensures that there's never a dull moment. The sound acting by the capable cast keeps the movie humming: John Jarratt as high-strung ex-con Phil, Craig McLachlan as the rugged Mory (McLachlan also composed the effectively shuddery score and contributed a few songs to the soundtrack), Jessica Napier as perky barmaid Kate, Rebecca Smart as the sassy Mickey, Chris Haywood as brutish cop Chris, Sacha Horler as the brash Shae, Angela Punch-McGregor as the nervous Sue, and Charlie Jarratt as Sue's loyal and protective son Damien. Geoff Cox's agile cinematography takes neat advantage of a constantly mobile prowling camera. A tidy little thriller.

Obviously Jarratt is wanting to cash in on Wolf Creek, bringing another psycho loser to the screen, and relishing in it. He is a good actor, and the acting here isn't the problem. It's the movie, written by the Jarratt's who should have never been allowed to put pen to paper. I couldn't believe how horribly bad this movie was. I know I wasn't in for Oscar viewing, and I expected B grade fare, but in two words it's incredibly or pathetically bad. Jarratt's wife, Angela Punch Macgregor, at first unrecognizable, in a splendid performance, and real life Jarratt son, (yes another Jarratt contribute) flee from their house in the wake of an approaching storm/flood. This take refuge in this gas, station run by nonetheless Craig Mclachlan, another one of the top performers in this. Of course the acting prize does go to Chris Haywood, as a shady guy, who shows up at the gas station, to take out the deranged Jarratt who's such fun to watch, in a film so bad, you appreciate it. There's no thriller elements in this. The characters motivations are obvious. Jessica Napier is nice scenery as the gas/convenience store hand who shares a strong kiss with her savior Maclachlan, amidst the raging waters of the wild Wonga river, as falling prey earlier to the maniacal Jarrett. And looking much older is Bec Smart, and lesbian friend, may'be, the terrific Horler. Actors can only do their best when faced with incredibly bad scripts as this. One line had me laughing, as to Maclachlan, correcting Jarratt's first and last character's name, with one of insult, as trying to cross an untamed ford in his fancy car, then having to be towed by Maclachlan's truck. The film even ends on a stupid line, and Macgregor and son, who are kept hidden in a bed shed at the good will of Maclachlan, looks very much like the one used in Wolf Creek, where Mick Taylor had his fun. Just out of curiosity, just watch this to see how bad a movie can be, but there's a few worse floating around, not a lot, about a few. Just don't blame the actors.

A flash flood in Australia cuts off a small handful of people in a remote roadside diner . A man called Phil enters and threatens his estranged wife Sue and the stranded drivers realise they're in a desperate struggle for their lives This is a low budget Aussie thriller with a very small cast and a limited number of sets . This isn't enough to condemn the film as a failure of course but if you're making something along the lines of THE OLD DARK HOUSE then you'll need to make sure you're bringing something new and appetizing to the table and this is where SAVAGES CROSSING fails to a very large extent . What happens for most of the time Phil played by John Jarrat swaggers around over acting to high heaven telling people if they don't tell him where his wife is he's going to have to kill them Another minor annoyance is Craig McLachan as the hero of sorts Mory . McLachan was once a household name in Britain and Australia twenty years ago due to his starring roles in NEIGHBOURS and HOME AWAY while like so many Aussie soap opera stars had a side line as a pop singer and he does the incidental music here on a soundtrack that is rather intrusive . He doesn't make much of a hunky hero either in a film that feels something of a wash out which is appropriate since it revolves around a flood

The Savage thing here is this movie it's not a horror 3.3 I think is overly Generous it's worse than any Michael Bay film I've Ever watched you may think "Oh come on it can't be that bad" let me count these waysThe Actors are horrendous it may be the scriptwriter or the poor way this movie was made but I wanted to see them get killed we have a horrendous overacting mother and an underacting teenager 2 girls who must've been hired off the street because this is the only reason as to why anyone would be in hereWhen I wanted to see them get killed I couldn't because the villain is afraid to use a gun let me read that to you again THE VILLAIN IS AFRAID TO USE A GUN The Dialogue only deserves a few words because I have seen better dialogue come out of 6-year-olds you get such dialogue as this "don't touch her or else""Or else What?""I'll Swear to god"yeah and that's them doing their best but it can't be for 6-year-olds because they overuse the F-word especially a copThe Villain has no motives and introduced as to the mother knowing he's out via phone call and the 2 words "he's out" and shots between the mother and son and the villain walking in slow motion through a city street seriously IN SLOW MOTION.The Characters: The mother is a private person for no reason with her wimpy son and the 2 girls who appear in the so-called wrong place one does nothing but cries throughout the whole movie from when the villain appears to the end of the movie the other calms her down I wondered when the scared-to-use-a-gun villain kills them I was angry at the end when he didn't there are the 2 people who own the bar the woman just serves them and tries to come at the villain with a baseball bat and doesn't the man who I mistook for Crocodile Dundee (and I'm Australian) and they do nothingThe sound is so bad every time it rains it sounds like somebody is using a bug zapper to make the noise collide with the ground