Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

The Snowtown Murders Blu-ray Movie Review

"He deserves it..."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 10, 2025

There are films that delight in explosive violence in a comic-book, Saturday morning cartoon fashion, allowing attacks against a villain's faceless henchmen to stand in for aggression against real human beings. Think The Fast and the Furious movies and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. But then there are films that abhor violence yet wish to depict it as authentically as possible, showcasing the horrors of violent acts, the brutality of vengeance, and the toll such things take on fragile minds. These are films of sociopaths and victims, of trauma and PTSD; films that are difficult to watch and even more difficult to stomach but remain necessary warnings to our higher sensibilities. These are not the acts of a civilized society; these are not the means of empathetic, well-adjusted men and women; these are not the way to achieve one's own humanity. The Snowtown Murders is one of these latter films, so vile and tough-to-watch that it shifts thoughts from the portion of the brain that registers fictionalized violence to a part of the mind that makes everything depicted on screen seem a bit too real. But it's here that the film finds its power and justifies its message.

"Do you like bein' f**ked? So why not do somethin' about it? 'Cause all I ever see you do is sook, mate. No? What didjah do about Jeffrey? F**kin' nothin'. You see me and Robert mopin' about? Hmm? No, you don't, because you do that they f**k you forever. You don't want that, do you? When are you gonna grow some balls, mate?"

Children are on the frontlines of the violence in co-writer/director Justin Kurzel's The Snowtown Murders, which is based on the true story of a series of twelve gruesome tortures and murders committed by killer John Bunting (played here with shocking menace by Daniel Henshall) between August 1992 and May 1999, near Adelaide and Salisbury, Australia. But John didn't act alone, luring several people into helping him over the course of his spree. We meet one of these unfortunate accomplices early in the film, 16-year-old Jamie (Lucas Pittaway), a teen who's frequently molested by his half-brother Troy (Anthony Groves). All but hypnotized by John's hate and charisma, Jamie watches as John's friend Barry (Richard Green) reveals the locations of pedophiles in the area, people whom John is determined to root out and eradicate. By film's end, Jamie has become a shell of his former self, helping John dispose of bodies, even including some who Jamie knows personally. The Snowtown Murders also stars Aaron Viergever as Robert Wagner and David Walker as Mark Haydon (the other two men convicted in the murders), along with Louise Harris, Keiran Schwerdt, Bob Adriaens, Frank Cwiertniak, Matthew Howard, Marcus Howard, Beau Gosling, Craig Coyne and Brendan Rock.

Take a moment to look at the cover art to The Snowtown Murders. That's Jaime, angry and confused at the forefront. And that's John behind him, clearly smiling even though we can't see his mouth, leering at the unspeakable acts he's more than eager to commit to rid the world of pedophiles, homosexuals, anyone he deems is beyond the law and deserves punishment. John looms large over the film, even when he isn't present, as the far meeker and more mild-mannered Jamie is all but forced into discipleship. John doesn't just get off on killing, he enjoys the power he lords over his victims and his accomplices, a role Henshall -- a genuinely delightful man in real life -- sinks into with a scary level of commitment that makes him seem every bit the force of nature a sociopath like John proves to be. His performance is so electric, so undeniably magnetic that it's easy to see how Robert, Mark and Jamie eventually have no choice but to fall under his spell, and also easy to see just how frightening a figure and imposing a frame John becomes. Likewise, Pittaway is so unnervingly vulnerable as Jamie that his performance ceases to be acting. He simply becomes a young, abused teenager beaten into submission by a world so cruel and hateful that he has no place in it if he doesn't submit and become the monster John longs for him to be.

The rest of the cast is exceptional as well, as is Adam Arkapaw's unflinching cinematography, which captures the grime, desperation and poverty of Jamie's stomping grounds. The film is almost too joyless and humorless, with so many things assaulting the senses that it almost becomes unbearable to watch. And yet it's impossible to look away, hoping, nearly begging Jamie to resist; to be strong enough to overcome John and put a stop to the killings before they go too far. But Jamie never runs to the police. Never finds a way out. Never uncovers a path to redemption. The film literally ends as he takes his first complicit step into the darkness, shutting the door on his future and choosing to join John in vigilantism that's as self-destructive as it is criminal. But by that point Jamie has been stripped down so far, unmoored so brutally, and desensitized so systematically that his final decisions feel all at once his own and someone else's entirely. He's no longer the boy we met an hour and a half prior; he's a tool John wields as deftly as a hammer and as lethally as a knife. And therein lies the real tragedy of the film: Jamie, the living victim; complicit and guilty yet untethered from sanity to the point that right and wrong are no longer in play.

The Snowtown Murders Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Snowtown Murders features a brutally proficient 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer that captures the despair and chilly desperation of Adam Arkapaw's breathtakingly homespun cinematography. Colors are dull and restrained by design, with a faint blue tint to many scenes. Even so, the palette is quite striking, bolstered by inky black levels and suitably stark contrast. Delineation can be a touch opaque, but it lends itself to the narrative visually and thematically, and crush only has a marginal presence in the image. Detail is excellent, with crisp edges, refined textures and a fine layer of grain that never gets too unruly. There also isn't any encoding issues of note, especially nothing in the way of blocking, banding or digital noise.

The Snowtown Murders Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Snowtown Murders' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is aggressive when violence erupts and subdued when dread is preparing listeners for the next killing. LFE output lends disquieting weight and heft to scenes involving torture and murder, while everything from truck engines to the thrum of the Jed Kurzel's score is backed by low-end presence. The rear speakers do a fine job with the soundfield too, allowing the slight ambient sounds of the Australian suburbs to creep from channel to channel with eerily panned ease. Directionality is fairly precise too, although there isn't much in the way of enveloping soundfield moments outside of those involving John assaulting his next victim. Dialogue remains clear and intelligible throughout, and prioritization doesn't falter. All told, the mix sounds almost as good as the film looks.

The Snowtown Murders Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries - Two commentary tracks are available, the first with film critic Simon Abrams and the second with director Justin Kurzel.

• Archival Interviews (HD, 27 minutes) - Six are available, offering thoughts and reflections from producers Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw, Kurzel, and actors Daniel Henshall, Lucas Pittaway and Louise Harris.

• Murderers Among Us (HD, 12 minutes) - A video essay by Samm Deighan.

• The Boy from Gawler (HD, 35 minutes) - A lengthy and insightful interview with Kurzel.

• Deleted Scenes (HD, 17 minutes) - Deleted scenes with optional director's commentary.

• Original Casting Footage (HD, 9 minutes) - Three casting/audition reels.

• The Snowtown Crimes (HD, 5 minutes) - An EPK featurette.

• Original Trailer (HD, 2 minutes)

The Snowtown Murders Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Snowtown Murders is a heavy, alarming descent into sociopathy following an innocent who's slowly corrupted by a monster. The sheer brutality of the violence is unnerving to say the least, and the film will have an effect on you long after the closing title cards reveal the extent of the killing spree. The Blu-ray release is excellent too, with terrific video, a strong DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and a full complement of extras. Recommended... if you have the stomach and the wherewithal for it.