100 Bloody Acres Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

100 Bloody Acres Blu-ray Movie Review

100% organ-ick.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 14, 2013

I’ve been a vegetarian for most of my adult life and I must confess to a consumer’s trait that many of my fellow Pacific Northwesterners share, whether or not they share my particular dietary proclivities—if there’s an “organic” option on the menu or at the local supermarket, I tend to prefer it. While I was picking up some actual animal protein for one of my sons (who is an avowed carnivore) the other day, another guy at the meat department was asking the butcher what the difference was between the regular game hen and the “organic” game hen, and the helpful butcher informed him that the organic label meant that the hen had only been given organic food. Somehow, this struck me as slightly comical, bringing to mind images of the chicken named Colin from one of the iconic first episodes of Portlandia: Season One, but, given my own eating preferences, who am I to laugh at anyone else? Evidently there must also be a burgeoning organic industry in the far off climes of Australia, for brothers Colin (hmmm. . . .) and Cameron Cairnes have crafted a slyly humorous horror tale built around the bloody misadventures of two siblings who run an organic fertilizer company in the rural regions of Victoria. Reg Morgan (Damon Herriman, J. Edgar) is a hapless shlub who only wants the approval of his brother Lindsay (Angus Sampson, who appeared as one of the costumed beasts in Where the Wild Things Are), and who decides to merit that approval by bringing home a little “roadkill” he’s happened upon, which can then be ground up and turned into extremely potent manure. In this case, however, the roadkill is an actual dead human that Reg stumbles across while making his morning rounds. It turns out that this actually isn’t the first time the Morgan Brothers have resorted to such methods, but when Reg makes the mistake of picking up three hitchhikers on his way back to the Morgan Farm, things take a precarious turn for the worse, leading to some unexpected consequences.

While the Cairnes brothers wax philosophically in one of the supplements included on this Blu-ray about having envisioned a key image in the film—a supposedly dead hand flopping out from underneath a pile of sacks of manure—and having built 100 Bloody Acres around that image, it may in fact be a different kind of wax—namely the 2005 remake of House of Wax—which may have helped to inform, if not outright create, this film. Is it mere coincidence that both outings feature Herriman as a decidedly creepy truck driver who deals in a special kind of “roadkill” and who just happens to pick up some hapless hitchhikers, delivering them to what may or may not turn out to be their doom?

Of course House of Wax was only unintentionally funny, while 100 Bloody Acres has a much firmer grasp on its own lunatic charms, and in fact Herriman’s character is rather fully fleshed out (no pun intended) in the film, especially once his vicious brother Lindsay enters the picture. The three hitchhikers, trying to get to a Woodstock-esque outdoor music festival, are Sophie (Anna McGahan), her kind of boyfriend James (Oliver Ackland), and bad boy Wes (Jamie Kristian), whom we first meet while he’s putting some fairly serious moves on Sophie (while James is otherwise occupied), moves that Sophie does not seem all that repulsed by. When Wes doesn’t take James’ advice about gunning their dilapidated car’s engine, the three find themselves stranded, until Reg, still somewhat panicked from having picked up his roadkill, drives by.

Wes tries to get Reg to stop, rather spectacularly unsuccessfully, but Sophie’s imploring works a bit better, and soon Sophie is sitting up front with Reg, while James and Wes are consigned to the back of the truck, where another “passenger” lies buried beneath bags of manure. Wes is quick to light up a joint to get a head start on the festival’s festivities, but soon things turn into a decided bad trip when that aforementioned hand flops out and the two guys realize there’s a corpse underneath them. Meanwhile, Reg and Sophie have struck up a rather unexpected friendship. When Reg stops at his family farm for a moment, Sophie suddenly hears her friends in the back of the truck warning her they’re all in mortal danger, at which point Lindsay enters the picture and things get decidedly darker.

Within mere moments, the three find themselves held as prisoners at the Morgans’ fertilizer plant, and it’s obvious that Lindsay, disgusted that his brother has been stupid enough to bring back living people along with the corpse, has decided to rectify that fact as soon as possible. An unlikely shifting of alliances ensues over the course of the next several scenes, as Sophie works her wiles on Reg, at first perhaps merely as a chance at surviving, but then quite likely for more authentic reasons. Meanwhile, James spends the bulk of the film hanging upside down from a chain over a gigantic grinder while Wes, who actually manages to escape for a while, finds out that his mind on drugs is not even at the fried egg level of comprehension.

One of the pull quotes on this Blu-ray’s cover compares the film favorably to Shaun of the Dead, but in my estimation, 100 Bloody Acres doesn’t have quite the comedic momentum that the Simon Pegg film did. There are some great little bits here—Reg freaking out as he tries to retrieve the dead body, Sophie having a lovers’ spat with James while he hangs immobilized upside down, with his mouth taped shut—but overall, the film is more wryly amusing than laugh out loud hilarious. The horror elements are rather well done, however, including an absolutely startling turn by Sampson as Lindsay. Sampson somehow makes a hairnet worn on his ample beard a fitting symbol of moral decrepitude and innate savagery. Herriman is also superb as a rather sweet natured killer—or at least, retriever of those already dead.

100 Bloody Acres Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

100 Bloody Acres is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Doppelganger Releasing (an imprint of Music Box Films) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. This digitally shot feature looks nicely sharp and sleek on Blu-ray, with very accurate colors which are well saturated (and then some, when it comes to the copious blood). Fine detail is very commendable throughout this presentation, showing the splatter of plasma on t-shirts with sometimes alarming vividness and offering enough sharpness that even individual flyaway hairs on Sophie's head are easily seen, sometimes in rather dim lighting. Contrast is also very strong, which allows the film to segue seamlessly from the beautifully bright Australian countryside to the frighteningly dark interiors where the Morgans attempt to whip up a new batch of fertilizer.

100 Bloody Acres Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

100 Bloody Acres' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is perhaps just a tad less aggressive than some might be expecting, given this film's quasi-horror ambience. But a lot of this film actually tends to play out in relatively quiet dialogue moments, usually between two characters. In those moments, there really isn't much surround activity, aside from occasional ambient environmental effects. However, the film does burst into quite a bit more activity and immersion when Reg takes off in his truck or, later, when Wes takes off in the same truck. There are some fantastic sound effects in the film, including a gruesome grinding sequence and (while brief) a very funny moment when Lindsay catches up to Wes and gives him a little "bump" with the butt of his rifle. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is wide, though in fits and starts.

100 Bloody Acres Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind 100 Bloody Acres (1080p; 9:22) features cast and crew interviews along with snippets from the film.


• Bloody SFX (1080p; 5:03) is an interesting look at the visual effects crew and their work.


• Grinding the Roadie (1080p; 00:22) is a brief glimpse at one of the film's horrific set pieces.


• Storyboard Gallery (1080p) features seven segments from the film, accessible individually.


• Mood Reel (1080p; 1:39) is an odd little black and white (with occasional color) piece which plays out to music.


• Gag Reel (1080p; 3:38)


• Recording the Radio Ad (1080p; 2:41) accompanies Reg and Lindsay to the recording studio.


• Morgan's Organic Radio Ads (1:05) is audio only.


• Morgan's Organic TV Commercials (1080p; 10:43) are appropriately retro, replete with "video tracking" issues.


• Col and Cam Do the Shed Scene (1080p; 2:30). Evidently what these writing-directing siblings really want to do is act.


• Reg the Dog's Audition (1080p; 00:20) features Reg carrying around the prosthetic hand which plays an important part in the last part of the film.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:13)


• Celestial Avenue (1080p; 20:52) is the short that first brought the brothers acclaim on the film festival circuit.

100 Bloody Acres Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Judging by 100 Bloody Acres and perhaps as much (if not more) by Celestial Avenue, a fascinating short included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, the Cairnes Brothers are certainly talents to keep an eye on. As writers, they have a firm grasp on character and plot mechanics, though their tone here is perhaps not quite as consistent as it might have been. As helmsmen, however, they're spot on more often than not, crafting scenes that have at least a bit of comic kick mixed with a suitably horrific subtext. For those with a certain skewed sensibility (and you know who you are), 100 Bloody Acres comes Recommended.