KILLING GROUND
Australia, 2016, 88 minutes, Colour.
Aaron Pedersen, Aaron Glenane, Harriet Dyer, Ian Meadows, Mitzie Ruhlmann, Tiarnie Coupland, Maya Stange, Stephen Hunter.
Directed by Damien Power.
Over the decades, Australian film makers have been fascinated by the Australian bush as well as the Australian outback. Sometimes it is a place of wonder, where aboriginal people went walkabout, where city people, escaping from the humdrum ordinary life, could live amongst the trees and bush, the rivers and waterfalls, the beauty of nature. And sometimes, in the thrillers, it is not a comfortable place to be.
There have been two versions of Long Weekend, and, of course, there has been the menace of the films of Wolf Creek and the television series. There are very strange, psychotic, characters out there in the bush, in the outback.
And, Killing Ground, is in the same vein.
It starts in a breezy kind of way, a young couple going camping, to the place where the young man went as a boy. He is a doctor, they chat about anatomy on the way, it is a wonderful chance to get away. We also learn that it is New Year’s Eve, and a marriage proposal is in the air. The couple set up their tent, noticing another, rather large tent some distance away on the sand of the river.
We also see the family who occupied the large tent, mother and father, teenage daughter, young child. The parents go on a walk towards the falls, the daughter staying behind to look at photos on her phone.
We have glimpsed two men at the pub where the couple stop, the woman (and ourselves) startled by the sudden barking of a vicious dog. The two men are German and Chook, hunters, pals who go out into the bush. There is some sinister talk, suggestions of prison sentences, of sexual assault.
Eventually, the audience is able to put these different pieces together, working out the timeline of the events.
Most audiences going to see Killing Ground will know that it is a story of menace, of violence, guns, assault…
Sadly, news stories over the decades indicate that the horror of this scenario is not entirely invented. There have been some sinister murders in the bush and the outback.
As this kind of horror story in the bush goes, it is well made, the audience immersed in the beauty and then the menace of the bush, characters, briefly sketched, but credible enough – and truly ugly, insane killers.
It is surprising to find Aaron Pedersen menacing as one of the killers, supported by Aaron Glenane, also effective.
And the film does raise the issues of how to deal with such situations, notions of courage, bravery, panic, self-protection…
1. An Australian horror and menace story? Tourists, the bush, hunters?
2. The bush settings, trees, paths, water, sand, camping sites? The musical score?
3. The title, ominous?
4. The intercutting of the three stories, the different times, the effect of juxtaposing the different times and stories? Bringing them together?
5. Sam and Ian, driving on holidays, going to the camping site, his boyhood memories, the discussion about anatomy, his being a doctor? The arrival, seeing the other tent, setting up the tent, the proposal and marriage plan? New Year’s Eve, setting the watch back, the celebration? The episode of the boar disturbing their food?
6. The family, camping, four days after Christmas, the bonds in the family, the daughter and her not going for the walk to the falls, looking at the photos? Mother and father, Ollie? The gradual buildup to the situation, the daughter accosted by Chook, the car horn? The return?
7. German and Chook, at the pub, the ferocious dog in the car frightening Sam? At home, the dog, German waking up Chook? At the bar, the discussions, past prison sentences, sexual assault? Chook as a hunter?
8. The tragedy for the family, the return, the loss of the baby, being taken at gunpoint, tied up, Chook raping the girl, German and putting the can on the heads, the two men firing, the killings? The mother escaping, Ian finding her, her being shot? Chook shooting the girl?
9. Sam, finding the baby, the concern, the flat tire and Ian trying to fix it? Sam staying, the encounter with Chook? Ian going with Chook, to the site of the dead bodies? Ian attacking Chook? Hiding? Seeing Sam with the baby, Chook throwing the baby?
10. German, his arrival, the guns? Sam and Chook in the car, her disturbing him, the crash and his injury? Her getting loose?
11. Ian, going to the police, not having the baby? The police, the slow drive, finding the crash? Chook and his shooting the police? Injuring Ian? The confrontation with Sam, her beating him with the rock? Chook and callousness with the gun, shooting German?
12. Ian, panic, not acting resolutely? Sam and her being more courageous?
13. Both waking up in the hospital – and the film ending? Their future?
