Carnifex

Neither awfully bad nor fantastically good, Carnifex has the misfortune of being okay at best. That said, it is largely unmemorable when compared to other, similar films (Animal, Sasquatch, Exists, Bear Country), some of which may be more worthy of your time.

Grounding itself in a real-world tragedy (the 2020 bushfires that engulfed much of Australia), two biologists; Grace (Sisi Stringer) and Ben (Harry Greenwood), accompany a director, Bailey (Alexandra Park) into the bush, with the intention of raising awareness about endangered fauna.

Little do they realise, human interference has forced the Carnifex - a supposedly long-extinct animal - to move closer to civilization in search of food, with the three travelers wandering into its territory.

It should be said the film's locations look superb - the Australian wilderness looking especially beautiful. This tranquillity, along with the revelation that most Australian animals are nocturnal, means the film's first half, most of which is set during the day, does little to create tension or ambiance; two things almost entirely absent from the movie.

The film's editorial decisions - like cutting between two characters, revealing an almost mirror image of their conflict, is effective. Though characters are provided some minor development, at least to the extent we feel confident in their professionalism, they also suffer the brain-dead disease many in horror movies do.

The worst example of this is when an ultra-violet camera is used; one person is covering another, to make sure the creature is not around, and after using the camera for a second, they decide that using their eyes, in the pitch blackness of the night, is the better option.

Another major issue with the film is the monster itself. On one hand, I'll give credit to the filmmakers for creating something that not only looks quite amazing, but also appears like it could genuinely be part of the Australian ecosystem. That said, we never see the Carnifex until the last few minutes, and by that moment, it is too little too late.

Despite seeing a couple glimpses of shadow and silhouette during the introduction and the second act, it is difficult to create stakes when we don't know what we're meant to be afraid of. Many may recall the 'bigger boat' scene in Jaws, which happened around the movie's half-way mark; I think Carnifex needed something similar, because it is impossible to fear something that may be little bigger than a squirrel. It is not helped that the creature has a habit of changing its vocals on a whim, reducing its authenticity.

As a film that addresses the state of the Australian environment, Carnifex may be seen as a half decent project - however, a horror movie, this is surely not. Carnifex isn't so bad that it should remain extinct; but it is also unable to compete with other films that can genuinely make us afraid of entering the woods.

Carnifex is a fun little horror movie set in the Aussie bush with an energetic cast, evocative score, and gorgeous scenery. Add a cute dog, a bit of humour, and a deadly beast out for blood, and you've got all the key ingredients of the genre. What makes it distinctive is its creature - one I've never seen in a film before!

The start is slow; just stuff your face with popcorn and get through it and then enjoy the ride when it takes off.

Don't let mmsucks's review, suggesting this movie has ripped off Michael J. Hellscream's novel of the same name, put you off - that book and this movie share a generic horror plot that we've all seen and read a thousand times before, with the same title and creature. That's pretty common in film, especially of this genre. And it isn't a bad thing! Let it go, mate!

Australia has 2 kinds of horror: that which involves mostly torture on screen, and the creature type.

Now I have to say, as much as I dislike the torture/gore genres, I absolutely love monster movies. So here is where Australia, land of plenty, shines. They brought us good such productions ever since Razorback (1984) and continued doing so with, Rogue, Black Water and now Carnifex. I think of all these mentioned, Carnifex had the smallest budget, and you can see that here, but other than that, I have to give it credit.

It got itself some nice views, good actors that delivered, one different monster than what I've seen before, all wrapped in a little in the back forest horror that worked quite nicely for what it is.

Thus I shall recommend this one, because horror isn't just mainstream, it's also productions like this one, delivered from passion, that maybe doesn't make the biggest splash, but it's still a nice way of spending 90 minutes.

All in all, definitely recommended for creature movie fans, it works quite viewed late at night. Cheers!

Not that bad, fairly well filmed and with pretty nice sight of the Australian bush, but it suffers from the modern need to preach you to death, to the point that it just get insufferable.

So first you have to go through literally half the movie getting preach mercilessly about ecology and the evil of human, 45 minutes of characters walking in the forest giving you life lessons and guilting you to oblivion. Without counting the also very modern need of writing every male character as a goofy caricature unable to do anything but be a joke (it could have passed fairly in this movie if not every male character were not just simply useless without exception).

Then comes the usual bad writing of lazy horror, with the final 30 minutes, where every character becomes dumb for no reason, running around in the dark and forgetting they are professional who should know how to handle a situation involving a predator. And of course the predator himself which literally a scene after being describe as an ambush and stalker predator (and behaving like one), suddenly decide to become stupid and pursue the main characters like any dumb generic predator.

In the end, like I said, nicely filmed, but lazy writing suffering from the modern tropes of having to preach you instead of entertaining you.

Wow ... this one ... well I have conflicting thoughts ... but in the end there is just so much more bad than good. OK, GREAT locations, and the scene direction is actually really good. Turning off the sound and watching the scenes go by would actually have made this more enjoyable.

That said, the script was AWFUL. Is it so hard for low budget producers/directors to understand that this is one of the most cost effective way to take a movie from crappy to excellent? So if you settle for something you scrawled out while on the can, well you should have left it in there. And audiences do want to be preached to, STOP IT!

The absolute overuse of crud moves (as one reviewer described them as 'jump scenes') ... oh my, what a waste.

It bugs me when some reviewers give high marks when they consider only one or two factors. Yes, I agree the scenery is great, but if the rest of the components of a good movies aren't there, you should not get high rating.