Red Hill is playing in the Freak Me Out stream of the film festival and freak me out it did.
Let me start by saying that generally I am not a fan of the thriller/realistic horror film. I find excessive bloodshed and violence turns my stomach just a little. I do however love a western (Which tends to be more about honour than violence).
Red Hill sees Ryan Kwantan as Constable Shane Cooper step outside his Soap Opera background as a young cop who is forced to move from the city as a protective measure for his pregnant wife. They move to sleepy Red Hill.
The film follows Cooper on his first day as a country copper that rapidly escalates out of control with an escaped criminal intent on returning home to Red Hill to complete some unfinished business. The way the remainder of this plays out is fraught with tension, some staged Western moments and an increasing amount of bloodshed.
The film has some great successes but is jarring in it's switch between thriller and western (Using music and the odd physical moment to introduce the western theme) knocking you out of the immersion in the film. Kwantan's mix of fear and bravado is well portrayed and Bisley as the "I am the law in this town" inspector is full of bravado.
A film that will terrify you Red Hill is worth a watch, but doesn't quite to be truly original and falls short of it's genre bending ambitiouns.
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