Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Killing Ground Blu-ray Movie Review

FUNNY GAMES Out in the Woods

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson November 13, 2017

Note that this review includes some spoilers.

Eleven years in the making, Damien Power's feature debut Killing Ground tells the frightening tale of two outcasts who terrify two families in the Tasmanian back woods of Gungilee Falls. Ian (Ian Meadows), a medical professional, is taking a weekend sojourn on New Year's Eve with his girlfriend, Sam (Harriet Dyer), whose a publisher. As they traverse down the two-lane road, Ian realizes that he's forgotten the champagne so he stops over at the local liquor store. There in the parking lot he's startled by the bark of a hunting dog and encounters its owner, German (Aaron Pedersen), a black-bearded hillbilly. Ian makes the classic mistake of asking the uncongenial-looking stranger for directions to the remote forest. When Ian and Sam arrive en route to the hiking trail, they immediately spot an SUV parked in the same area. Somewhat disappointed that they won't be by themselves, the young couple also notice a set of lawn chairs and pitched tent on the beach but no occupants. Sam pops the question out of the blue and Ian accepts her proposal. When an excited Sam tries to call her sister with the news, she discovers that there's no cell coverage (one of the movie's first bad omens). As they get their tent set up, there is a cut to teenage Em (Tiarnie Coupland) who seems to be based on the same campsite. Em is also on a camping trip with her hippie father Rob (Julian Garner), mother Margaret (Maya Stange), and infant brother Ollie (played by twins Riley and Liam Parkes). Em is prone to recurring nightmares so she relaxes to music on her iPhone. Rob isn't really a calming presence on her because he tells his family the campfire tale involving the massacre of the Koori people by settlers. The narrative shifts to a pub where German and his protégé Chook (Aaron Glenane) are inveigling two teen girls to go with them, a foreboding sign of their predatory nature.

Power and his frequent cinematographer Simon Chapman establish Gungilee Falls as a picturesque and sylvan backdrop that is seemingly calm and tranquil. The first three reels of Killing Ground are quite slow and Power only gradually builds an atmosphere of tension and nerves for the characters. Power's screenplay is non-chronological so the story events are told out of order but they're edited in a way to suggest that the plot strands interlock with each other. Even if viewers are aware of this non-linear arrangement, the film could have been more suspenseful during the first half hour had it not cut in between scenes with German/Chook and the various campers. Power aims for character exposition in this section but the separateness of the locales truncates the suspense because the audience sees the two antagonists in their own tumbledown shack and among townspeople, not in the immediate vicinity of the campers. Power may have wanted the nature sounds to serve as red herrings (i.e., lurking animals about to attack their prey). The back-and-forth editing also shortens information the audience could additionally acquire about the characters. We probably would have learned more had it been told in a linear vein. For example, although we learn that German is an ex-con, we know little to nothing about Chook and what his motives are for going after everyone in the woods.

Sam and Ian are hoping to enjoy a quiet and scenic holiday weekend together.

German and Chook obviously represent the scum of the outback and their heinous and abominable acts arouse unpleasure for the spectator. Killing Ground turns into a variant of Haneke's two superior Funny Games pictures when the two miscreants gag and tie three of the characters to trees and set beer cans on their heads for target practice. The torture porn, however, is more implied than it is overtly depicted on screen. The final act emerges as predictable once it's known that Chook has set a trap. Chook had a prior encounter with Chris Armstrong (Stephen Hunter), an Australian police community officer, and one wonders why Armstrong wouldn't use more precaution or backup personnel for the attempted rescue. As a horror camping film, Killing Ground is fairly solid but it lags behind Greg McLean's Wolf Creek (2005), which is perhaps the genre's contemporary benchmark.

(Note that the presence of the pig in the film is probably a reference to the Ozploitation classic, Razorback (1984).)

Killing Ground Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Killing Ground makes its North American debut as a BD/DVD combo courtesy of Scream Factory. The MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25 has been given an average video bitrate of 27995 kbps for the main feature, along with a total bitrate of 34.55 Mbps for the full disc. The movie appears in the aspect ratio of 2.37:1, which approximates its theatrical exhibition on the festival circuit. Scream delivers a virtually flawless presentation. Edge enhancement, chroma/low-level noise, and macro-blocking are all discerningly absent. Skin tones are natural without a trace of post-processing. Trees, shrubs, and vegetation stand out in daylight scenes. Black levels are exceptionally deep and check out the low-key and sparse fill light in Screenshot #s 17-20.

Screen has assigned a dozen chapter selections for scene access.

Killing Ground Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream Factory has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (2915 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (1509 kbps, 24-bit) down-conversion of Killing Ground's original sound track. The Aussie dialect and aboriginal voice (courtesy of Aaron Pedersen's character) sound true and authentic. It was difficult for me to make out certain consonants so I turned on the optional English SDH, which were a big asset. (Spanish subtitles are also available.) Sounds emanating from crickets, tree brush, German's canine, and the squealing pig are largely directed from the surround channels. Leah Curtis's string-heavy score provided the remaining acoustics from the rears.

Killing Ground Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (2:12, 1080p) - IFC Midnight's official theatrical trailer for Killing Ground presented in about 2.37:1 with DTS-HD MA 2.0.

• Previews - Trailers for The Survivalist (2:03), Wakefield (2:04), and A Dark Song (2:17). These launch after you put in the disc and can't be played from the main menu.

Killing Ground Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Killing Ground is a well-shot Australian horror camping film that is often violent and uneven. The material becomes muddled and erratic when it tries to weave all the stories together from different time periods. For other offings in this genre, we recommend High Tension (2003) and The Invitation (2015). You may also want to check out last year's Hounds of Love. Scream Factory delivers a very clean transfer and above-average audio but no extras. Killing Ground is a wannabe Ozploitation film that earns a SLIGHT RECOMMENDATION for Simon Chapman's photography.