KILLING GROUND (2016)

Studio:       IFC Midnight
Director:    Damien Power
Writer:       Damien Power
Producer:  Joe Weatherstone, Lisa Shaunessy
Stars:     Aaron Pedersen, Harriet Dyer, Ian Meadows, Maya Stange, Julian Garner, Tiarnie Coupland, Liam Parkes, Riley Parkes, Aaron Glenane

Review Score:

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Summary:

Two separate camping trips unexpectedly intersect when both parties are beset by a pair of sadistic hunters.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Four days after Christmas, Rob Baker and Margaret Voss go camping in secluded Gungilee Falls with their teenage daughter Em and toddler son Ollie. Left alone while her parents hike with Ollie, Em becomes spooked by a noise in the trees and hides inside the family’s vehicle.

Ex-con Scotty “German” Shepard and his hunting buddy Todd “Chook” Fowler find Em sleeping in the car. Chook tries getting into the car to rape Em, prompting Em to honk the horn. German retrieves his rifle and forces Em to get out at gunpoint.

Hearing the horn, Rob and Margaret stash Ollie in their tent and race back to Em. Following a struggle, German and Chook capture all three adults, bind their hands, and gag them with duct tape.

Chook rapes Em. German forces Chook to play a “William Tell” game where they shoot empty beer cans off of Rob and Margaret’s heads. Chook intentionally shoots Rob in his head. German shoots Margaret in her chest before executing Em point blank. Chook and German learn that there is also a baby, but do not find Ollie when they search the family’s tent.

Dr. Ian Smith and his fiancée Samantha Shaw make their way to Gungilee Falls to camp for New Year’s Eve. While stopped in a pub parking lot, Ian asks German for directions. German tries to suggest that Ian should camp at Standing Creek instead.

Ian and Sam notice the Baker Family’s deserted campsite when they arrive at Gungilee Falls. The couple spends the night alone in their own tent.

German and Chook unsuccessfully try to pick up a pair of young girls at a pub during a New Year’s Eve party. German angrily smashes Chook’s phone when he discovers Chook took pictures of the Bakers. German also tells Chook about the couple he met who were headed to Gungilee Falls.

The next morning, Sam and Ian check on the other tent and find it ransacked. They decide to retrieve a ranger for help, but discover they have a flat tire. While Ian tries fixing the flat, Sam returns to the campsite and comes across Ollie lying on a path suffering from dehydration. The couple is anxious to get Ollie medical attention, but is unsure how best to get out of the woods.

German comes home to a “gone hunting” note left by Chook. Realizing what Chook plans to do, German heads to Gungilee Falls.

Chook arrives at the campsite entrance where Ian’s car and the Baker Family’s vehicle are parked. Sam and Ian tell Chook about the missing family and dehydrated boy. Chook claims he is a hunter who met the family three days earlier. He also suggests that they should look for the parents before taking Ollie to the hospital. Although the couple is suspicious, Sam stays behind at the car with Ollie while Ian goes into the woods with Chook.

Chook and Ian come upon the clearing where Chook and German killed the Bakers. However, Margaret’s body is not there. Ian discovers Margaret on the ground nearby, having crawled away in a near death state. Chook suddenly executes Margaret. Ian flees into the woods.

German arrives to find Sam just as Chook’s gunshot is heard. German retrieves his rifle and moves to capture Sam. Sam cuts German’s arm and runs into the woods cradling Ollie. German releases his vicious dog Banjo to follow her, but Banjo ends up scrapping with a wild pig.

Thinking he is firing at Ian, Chook critically wounds German on accident. Chook hears Ollie crying and finds Sam. Unable to quiet the boy, Chook grabs Ollie and violently throws him to the ground. German begs to be euthanized, so Chook shoots him.

While taking Sam captive, Chook taunts Ian to come out of hiding. Despite everything he hears, Ian stays hidden. When Chook realizes Ian isn’t coming, he escorts Sam back to his vehicle and eventually returns to the road.

Ian retrieves German’s keys and drives German’s truck back into town to get help from law enforcement.

While driving, Chook taunts Sam that Ian abandoned her. Sam expresses her belief that Ian merely rescued Ollie instead. Sam and Chook tussle, causing the vehicle to crash.

Ian arrives at the crash site with Constable John Barrow and Constable Chris Armstrong. When the constables step out of their car to investigate, Chook shoots them both from the dark.

His leg injured from the crash, Chook forces Sam at gunpoint to drive him back to town with Ian in the police car. Ian apologizes for abandoning Sam when she realizes that he left Ollie in the forest, where the boy is later found by Banjo.

Sam speeds up and veers suddenly in order to roll the police car. Ian is knocked unconscious. Sam and Chook crawl out of the car and fight until Sam beats Chook to death.

Sam wakes in the hospital. She walks to a nearby room where she finds Ian recuperating. The two of them stare at one another.

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Review:

Ian and Sam expected a quiet New Year’s Eve alone when they arrived at Gungilee Falls.  The Baker Family, consisting of two parents, a teenager, and a toddler, expected similarly serene seclusion during a camping trip of their own three days earlier.

What neither party could have anticipated was ex-con “German” and his psycho sidekick “Chook” intruding on their outdoor excursions with hunting rifles and evil urges, which in turn tipped over domino lines of depravity and danger.  The young couple and the family foursome now find their separate stories inextricably intertwined.  Their common link is two men forcing everyone involved to face the worst fears imaginable for anyone caught in the wilderness with little hope of escape.

The thriller genre certainly isn’t short on concepts where backwoods crazies turn an outdoor trip into a test of survival skills for unsuspecting campers/hikers.  With two feature films and a TV series devoted to “Wolf Creek” (review here) alone, Australia in particular has a corner on that market when it comes to such fight-for-your-life suspense set against remote rocks and trees.

This means Aussie film “Killing Ground” has its work cut out for it to come up with a way to get a leg up in the crowded category.  Writer/director Damien Power takes a novel approach to do exactly that.  He combines past and present parallel plots into one narrative where two ill-fated holidays end up terrorized by the same pair of irredeemable sociopaths.

During the first act, clues come together quickly that not everything is occurring concurrently.  Less clear is exactly when the two storylines will intersect and how that shared dot will affect both outcomes.  The great effect “Killing Ground” achieves from this conceit is the simultaneous suspense of wondering what will happen as well as what already did.

Creativity comes with a caveat, however.  In selecting breaking points to pause one thread before bouncing back to the other, “Killing Ground” sacrifices a synched rhythm.

For instance, one sequence cuts from past to present simply to interject a quick clip of a car pulling up to a particular location.  Cut back to the past for several minutes and then back to the driver exiting the car in the other timeline.  “Killing Ground” wants you hanging on a cliff of questioning what the current confrontation will look like, but does so at the expense of mistimed editing that disrupts the tempo.  The story would lose a fair deal of its uniqueness if it were told chronologically, though there is a way to sequence these scenes differently that would result in a smoother flow.

Another card carried in the film’s pocket is strong characterization of its antagonists.  German and Chook aren’t interchangeable villains snarling sadistically like typical movie madmen.  Damien Power writes them to have true personalities instead of merely fulfilling a function of facilitating conflict.  “Killing Ground” forces us to spend significant time in their uncomfortable company.  Actors Aaron Pederson and Aaron Glenane provide the finishing touches that ground these two predators in frighteningly real moral and mental dysfunction.

“Killing Ground” has a raw, brutal feel, much of which comes from unsettling atmosphere since visceral visuals are more suggestive than they are graphic.  An awful sexual assault occurs offscreen in between other moments.  A disturbing attack on a child is obscured by foreground foliage.  “Killing Ground” is violent, yet not confrontational about its presentation, allowing you to be shocked without having the horrors thrust directly into your eyes.

Should you be at the understandable end of your tolerance rope for this kind of fare, taking a pass would be a sensible course of action, as this isn’t the entry that will win your favor for the subgenre.  “Killing Ground” is still one of the better “killer in the woods terrorizes campers” survival movies, in large part because it isn’t just a setup.  There is a legitimate story.  It isn’t told in the most consistent fashion, but it has enough power in its performances to stay sharp as a thriller.

Review Score:  70

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