Snowtown

Despite this film being brilliantly written and acted, it is so grim that I don't think I could ever bear to watch it again. I've done a fair bit of research into the Snowtown murders and if anything this film plays down the torture aspect. Knowing this happened and what went on in real life was probably even worse, it makes this a very challenging watch.

Snowtown is probably the most disturbing movie I have ever seen. (Note: To back that statement up, I have watched most so called 'torture-porn' flicks, including hard-edged foreign stuff like Martyrs and Audition.)

Unlike the vast majority of horror films, Snowtown depicts torture and murder in a way that is almost documentary-like - nothing is sensationalized, which makes it all the more horrific. You are essentially a fly-on-the-wall during a real-life murder. The strangulation scene in the bath tub is almost unwatchable - and it seems to go on forever.

I found it incredibly hard to watch and it has seriously shaken me to my core. Cinema is supposed to affect us, and Snowtown certainly did, which is why I've given it 10/10.

I agree with the other people who have written reviews who say that it is good to get some background on the murders as I watched this without any and was confused in parts. What is interesting is that the film makers either assumed that you would have this knowledge, or accepted that the plot would only partially be known. In that sense we really are like witnesses who aren't let in on all the facts - in a strange way keeping some of the plot details leads to the sense of claustrophobia in the film.

Snowtown is an excellent example of the genre of gritty Australian realism which includes films like The Boys and Idiot Box.

This reminded me a lot of The Boys in building tension slowly and I think the rhythm of the film was spot on. It was also similar in the sense that it suggested that poverty and a lack of opportunity lead to violence (not necessarily for Bunting but probably for the other characters). But I think this just reinforces prejudices about poverty that middle class people have.

I think that Jamie was a very good choice as a main character because he clearly had the most complex relationship with Bunting and what he was doing. As the audience we were also invited to have that relationship then

I was pretty surprised that the film only had an MA rating rather than R, particularly given the nature of the violence portrayed.

The press junket and first wave of critical notices built Snowtown up as a throat ripper that will cause you nightmares. That didn't do it any favours as per expectation levels for the horror enthusiast. However, this is a superb piece of film making, a real gritty and grainy deconstruction of the human condition gone sour. As with all films of this type that are based on real life incidents, it pays to read up on the facts if you be so inclined.

Debut director Justin Kurzel doesn't shirk from the horrors of the case, but skillfully he doesn't bang everyone over the head with shock tactics to grab the attention. It's a relentlessly bleak picture, there's a continuous build of impending dread, of human devastation wrung out by a master manipulator (Daniel Henshall as John Bunting superb), the depressing story told through the eyes of the simple and confused Jamie Vlassakis (Lucas Pittaway).

Not to be watched if one is looking to be cheered up! But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be sought out as essential cinema. It's a strong and potent film, worthy of inspection by adults who understand that not all film is about entertainment. 8.5/10

It is quite a well crafted film and the concepts it presents are quite disturbing. It shows the killers to be very cold, calculating and generally indifferent in the way the murders unfold.

I don't think it will be a very accessible film for most cinema goers, as the style and tone are very depressing. It is a very simple plot on the surface but the way it presents the characters is sometimes quite confusing, and i found it quite hard to follow who all the characters were and how they were related. It is appropriately photographed, the production design is correctly sparse and bleak and the soundtrack is very effective.