Director: Jody Dwyer
Writer: Michael Boughen, Jody Dwyer and Rod Morris
Release year: 2008

Tasmania: Where nature’s bloodline remains untouched

Zoology student Nina just went off on an expedition to proof that the Tasmanian Tiger species is not extinct. Eight years earlier, her sister sent her a photograph of a footprint, taken in the same region, just before her unfortunate drowning accident. Truth be told, her death wasn’t an accident, and Nina is about to find out why.

Coventry‘s review:

The REAL Tasmanian Devils…

Dying Breed is a largely derivative and predictable Aussie horror flick that nevertheless benefices from a handful of marvelous elements, like a fascinating historical plot outline (albeit not at all accurate), breathtaking filming locations & scenery and a few unyielding shock sequences. The pivot character in Dying Breed, even though he only briefly appears during the opening sequence, is Alexander Pearce a.k.a. “The Pieman”. He was a cannibalistic murderer of Irish descent who got exiled to Tasmania to pay for the crimes he committed. Back in the early eighteen hundreds, when the whole of Australia was still a British prison colony and Tasmania an island where the heaviest cases were shipped off to, Alexander “Pieman” Pearce was the only convict how managed to escape and flee into the impenetrable Tasmanian forests. Obviously this plot outline isn’t entirely accurate, as the real Pieman was in fact the nickname of a completely different prisoner and the real Alexander Pearce died at the gallows in 1824, but hey, it’s a horror movie so everything goes.

After the introduction of Pearce and the Tasmanian region, the plot resumes in present day Tasmania with the arrival of four twenty-something adventurers. Nina (Mirrah Foulkes) is a zoologist and wishes to continue the research of her sister who died here eight years ago whilst looking for the last remaining species of the Tasmanian Tiger. She and her friends quickly discover that her sister didn’t just drown, but fell victim to the bewildered and horribly inbred descendants of Alexander Pearce. They have only one goal in their miserable existence and that is to keep the bloodline alive.

At this year’s edition of the BIFFF, where I watched this movie, Dying Breed was exaggeratedly promoted like an Aussie interpretation of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. Perhaps this is a fairly apt comparison, but stating something like that inevitably raises high expectations that Dying Breed can’t possible fill in. Director Jody Dwyer does a reasonably good job, but he doesn’t fully succeed in generating an atmosphere of despair and sheer terror. It also takes slightly too long before the suspense and nastiness truly breaks loose. The first half of the film is overly stuffed with typical inbred jokes and stereotypical tourist behavior. There are a handful of downright disgusting sequences, notably a gruesome bear trap death sequence and a few close ups of pick-axes-in-the-head moments, which will undoubtedly appeal to the bloodhounds among us. The nature and wildlife images are dreamy to stare at and the acting performances are surprisingly above average. One of the lead actors is Leigh Whannell who, along with James Wan, created the original concept of the Saw franchise.

Vomitron‘s comments:

The Hills Have Pies

I was amazed (but not surprised) how the Australian Dying Breed and the French Humains pretty much turned out to be the same movie. With Humains being slightly more ridiculous (intended or not) in the plot department, but over-all a tad bit more fun and Dying Breed handling a more serious approach, resulting in a movie with a slightly tedious, typical first half and an equally enjoyable, brutal second half.

A baffling little detail I found to be, was how everybody (from Nina and her friends to the cops in this film) seemed to love those very un-delicious looking pies, cooked up by old Mama of the Pierce-clan. I mean, when an inbred redneck offers you a repulsive piece of pie, based on a secret recipe that has been a family tradition, then.. don’t eat it!! Just, ugh,… don’t, okay?!

Oh well, enough with the pie-jokes. Strictly speaking survival horror here, Dying Breed is worth a watch. If you’re not into this backwoods subgenre, then simply don’t watch the movie as it offers not much new. But the make-up effects are neat (especially Granddaddy Pierce’s menacing façade had me grinning near the end) and the ending itself sure made me appreciate Dying Breed a little more. That, and my favorite moment of the movie: Arrow-through-the-cheek.

Again, both your devoted viewers are unanimous:
Rating:

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