Australia was never considered as a blossoming ground for horror flicks. In fact, the horror genre doesn’t have any significant presence in the Australian cinematic history before the ’70s. It was later in the 1980s when the best horror movies of the 1980s registered some presence from the Australian suburbs.
But the tables have turned, the Australian audience over the time has developed a great taste for the genre and have accepted this genre with hands wide open.
Australian cinema is much more than lavish beaches, comedy, and action flicks, horror finds a considerable share of the market. Not only in terms of viewership but also in terms of several horror movies hitting the cinema each year. There is something about the wild of Australia, may it be the bushlands, lonely forests, deadly insects, or something else, which turns out to be a perfect setting for horror movies.
The following set of horror movies from Australia that will make you peek from the corner of your eyeballs.
The list of Best Australian Horror Movies:
Razorback:
Initial Release- 19 April 1984
Director- Russell Mulcahy
Razorback is an Australian natural horror film that is based on Peter Brennan’s novel of the same name. The one and half hour long film exhibit the scuffle of Carl who is set on the investigation of his disappeared wife named Beth in the outback of Australia. There is only one person who believes and tells Carl about the monstrous forces that might be the reason behind Beth’s disappearance. This film has got everything to rank it in the list of Scariest Horror Movies of all time.
Next of Kin:
Initial Release- 1982
Director - Tony Williams
Next of Kin is an Australian horror-thriller film that concerns the story of a young woman named Linda who inherits an old age home from her deceased mother. This retirement home called MontClare is on the verge of its downfall because of the suspicious unnatural things that happen here. Linda is also doubtful of her mother’s death and believes that the latter’s death has an estranged connection with the paranormal events occurring at home.
Lake Mungo:
Initial Release - 18 June 2008
Director - Joel Anderson
Lake Mungo is a heart-throbbing psychological horror film made in the cinematic combination of document and fiction style. The plot narrates the alienated events experienced by the Palmer family after the death of their daughter Alice. They feel the presence of Alice’s ghost in the house and ask help from a prophesier called Ray who reveals Alice’s previous visits to him. A whole new side of Alice unfolds as the family searches for the solution.
Acolytes:
Initial Release - 1 August 2008
Director - Jon Hewitt
Acolyte is a horror-thriller film, one of the best horror films hailing from Australia. We all have heard the phrase that sometimes it is not what it looks like. This film’s storyline involves the three teenagers who are in their final year of school. Mark, James, and James’s girlfriend Chasely get entangled in the series of murder, violence, and blackmail after Mark sees a sight of a body being buried by an unknown person. But this dead body of an unknown girl seems to hold dark secrets of the characters responsible for her death.
The Loved Ones:
Initial Release - 4 November 2010
Director - Sean Byrne
The Loved Ones is a horror movie that contains most creepy scenes. The plot of the film shoots the torture episodes suffered by Brent. Brent is a high schooler who self-harms himself over the guilt of his father’s death. Once when he attempts to commit suicide and changes his mind, he is knocked down and kidnapped by a duo Lola and her father Eric. They both maltreat and mortify Brent by damaging his vocal cords and brutally injuring him.
The Babadook:
Initial Release - 22 May 2014
Director - Jennifer Kent
The Babadook is a deeply nerve-wracking psychological horror-thriller film that leaves you with ambivalence. We all have thought of fairy tales in reality at least once in our lifetime. Samuel also nicknamed as Sam is a six-year-old boy who reads and listens to the Mister Babadook, a storybook out of which he believes Babadook. Sam insists his mother, Amelia of his imaginary monster, to the extent that Amelia starts observing mysterious things in the house that have no explanation. Soon she hallucinates and loses her mental control.
Wyrmwood:
Initial Release - 13 February 2015
Director - Kiah Roache-Turner
Wyrmwood: the road of the dead is an Australian action horror film based on the zombie outbreak. The synopsis of the film revolves around a mechanic called Barry who runs around to save himself and find his missing sister Brooke. Barry believes that the cause of this zombie infection is the star called
Wyrmwood that fell during a meteor shower. As believed in the bible that Wyrmwood brings unhappiness making a part of the world harrowing. Unfortunately, Barry has to kill his wife and son as they got infected during the survival game.
Scare Campaign:
Initial Release - 23 March 2016
Director - Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairness
Scare Campaign is a horror film about a prank show that goes by the same name. The Scare Campaign team pulls scary pranks on targets to run their show. Soon after they discover a new web series that shows the brutal killings of people, the Scare Campaign team decides to enact a more gruesome prank to increase their ratings. They attempt something similar. They chose a target at an abandoned mental hospital for their prank but none of their tricks work on the target and instead it backfired. The bait which they selected starts attacking and killing the Scare Campaign members one by one.
The Daybreakers:
Initial Release - 4 January 2010
Director - The Spierig Brothers
The Daybreakers is an action sci-fi horror film made with the co-production of Australia and the United States. The film covers the futuristic world where vampires live and humans are at the verge of their survival. The scarcity in the human population has caused a lack of blood supply for vampires. The remaining of the human population is fast depleting and something needs to be done quickly. Otherwise, the human race is on the verge of extinction.
The deficiency of blood results in the vampire to derange and become unstable. This spikes a researcher to look for a substitute of blood for vampires to reduce the downfall and save the human world from falling apart at the seams.
Rogue:
Initial Release - 8 November 2007
Director - Greg McLean
Rogue is an Australian horror Movie that was inspired by a true incident. The incident where a male saltwater crocodile used to attack the boats that trespassed from that region in the 1970s. The plot of a film concerns the character of a journalist named Pete who joins a group of tourists going on a river cruise for sightseeing at Australia’s Northern Territory. Pete soon encounters a series of terror when they are surrounded by a crocodile and a giant man-eating crocodile appears to guzzle up everyone by killing them.
Hope you have enjoyed our best picks from the Australian cinematic world. Make sure you go through our handpicked Best Japanese Horror Movies, that will ensure you a thriller of experience of the Japanese horror.
