100 Bloody Acres

It's bit of everything but not subtle. Watchable if you have time. Mildly entertaining. Nothing special or memorable. Acting, directing was good, though. 5.5/10.

'100 BLOODY ACRES': Four Stars (Out of Five)

Brothers Cameron and Colin Cairnes make their feature film debut writing and directing this Australian horror/comedy film about brothers who run an organic fertiliser business that's dependent on dead bodies (as it's secret ingredient) to make it work so well. One of the brother's comes across three partygoers, on their way to a music festival, and brings them home to introduce to his big brother (and the family business). The movie stars character actors Damon Herriman and Angus Sampson as the brothers and the beautiful Anna McGahan as one of their captured victims. The movie is full of dark humor and twisted gore. If you like dark Australian comedy and horror this is the movie for you.

Lindsay Morgan (Sampson) and his brother Reg (Herriman) have been running a successful organic fertiliser business for some time, that's finally getting it's first radio add, but the only problem is it's dependent on dead bodies, ran through a meat grinder, to make it work so well. The Morgan brothers have been collecting car crash victims to supply this 'secret ingredient' to their fertiliser and as the film opens Reg has just found another body at a crash site. While he's hauling the body home though he comes across a young woman, Sophie (McGahan), and her two male friends (Oliver Ackland and Jamie Kristian). Due to the lack of dead bodies recently he decides to take them home, to his brother Lindsay, to use as the fertiliser ingredient instead (in an attempt to impress his bossy older brother). Things don't go as planned though as Reg develops feelings for Sophie.

If you couldn't tell the movie is part romance as well (twisted romance). It's definitely not for the faint of heart though (or for those who become sickened by the site of blood and gore) but as a dark comedy and horror film it really works. OK, it mainly just works as a dark comedy (as it's neither scary nor very disturbing) but it is gruesome. It also surprisingly has a lot of heart. The Reg character is actually pretty likable and Sophie is one of the coolest and most ideal women a guy could hope for. I love films like this; their great as long as you don't take them seriously.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JQ4A-I9-JM

I saw this film at the Brussels fantastic film festival 2013 (BIFFF). It was announced as a Horror movie, but you are mistaken if you want something sinister. Everything happens in broad daylight. On the other hand, there was sufficient blood&gore to let it fall under the Horror category. Still, I found it more of a Comedy rather than anything else.

The plot elements were cleverly employed, like the use of human bodies (from travel accidents, at first) to "improve" the fertilizer that the two brothers produce. They have a lot of success with it, and demand is rising. Due to the latter, any human body that is found along the road that does not move, is carried away without proper medical review. That is where the story starts, soon involving three hitch hikers who pose an imminent danger to their secret operations. They thus become potential ingredients for their fertilizer production process. Though the cutting up of bodies is only shown once and not very directly, you can expect an abundance of blood sprayed around, tainting most of the bystanders who have every reason to assume they are next in line. Those movie lovers fainting on the sight of blood, are better off when they avoid this one.

The real secret ingredient of this film, however, is the humor that is incorporated all over the story, and works very well in hiding there is no real story to tell. Things happen in a logical sequence, though, but different from what we expected upfront. That is precisely the most important feature of this film. It is a Comedy rather than a Horror movie, is my conclusion, with the blood&gore only as binding element.

All in all, I found this Horror very enjoyable. I usually try to steer clear of blood&gore movies, but this time it is not the central theme that binds the scenes, unlike some other movies with no recognizable story line other than providing for reasons to miserably end other people's lives. In other words, the blood&gore is more entourage here than anything else. The relationship between the two fertilizer making brothers is much more important, as is the hasty and uncoordinated way they try to cover their tracks when the darker side of their business might be exposed. Along the line we witness various ways in which the younger brother tries to show initiative, in an attempt to outsmart his brother who obviously has the lead in everything. And the people who are so unlucky to get involved in their "factory", mostly fail to survive the encounter with all limbs intact, or even to escape alive for that matter. Hilarious scenes throughout, in spite of the darker aspects of the plot.

At the Festival I saw this, many compared it to "Tucker & Dale", but I think that is not an accurate assessment. Both are comedies with horror elements if you will (or the other way around), but the way they are presented is more than different. Not to mention the facets of the characters involved here.

Tucker and Dale is simpler, which is not supposed to be a judgment, I loved the movie. I'm just saying that I thought this is great in its own right too. The comedy has different, sometimes uneven, but therefor darker tone. It's a movie you have to be in the mood for I guess and I totally was. Thought almost every joke worked in this and the changes in pace were nice too (changes in genres too sometimes).

In 2012's 100 Bloody Acres we are introduced to a couple of hitchhikers, that find themselves in the hands of two brothers who own a fertilizer business using a secret ingredient. It's an Australian movie and that is made obvious right from the start and we immediately get thrown into a humorous chaotic mess that gets worse and worse, but in a good way. But only for the viewer of course because the movie is funny, bloody and definitely has some gore to show. The characters are all twisted and none of them are perfect and the movie had similar vibes to "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" but without the fact that the two brothers are actually innocent. An even though these characters all have their sins and mistakes you will root for them in the end.

I definitely had my fun watching this and I thought the movie was highly entertaining, but obviously not flawless. And there's actually cameo from John Jarratt and it was a pleasure to see him in a movie like this. If you enjoy bloody horror comedies I can definitely recommend to watch this. [6,2/10]