100 Bloody Acres

A horror-comedy with a quirky edge, 100 Bloody Acres marks the debut of Australian writer-directors (and brothers) Colin and Cameron Cairnes. When three young travelers (Oliver Ackland, Anna McGahan, Jamie Kristian) become stranded on their way to an outdoor music festival, they meet Reg Morgan (Damon Herriman), a twitchy partner in a fertilizer business he owns with his psychopathic brute of a sibling, Lindsay (Angus Sampson). The trio are picked up in Reg's truck and diverted to the Morgans' fertilizer shop, where they soon learn that the secret ingredient of the brothers' blood-and-bone product formula is, well, people—setting into motion a tense story that finds the protagonists trying to stay out of the Morgans' meat grinder, while the killers are caught up in their own distracting (and often funny) interpersonal conflicts. What distinguishes 100 Bloody Acres is its unexpected and perverse forays into satire and even romantic comedy complications (such as when a little dog suddenly runs off with a character's severed hand, and another character is absorbed in a jealous fit over his girlfriend while dangling upside down over the grinder). A strange meld of gore-fest and comedy that will remind many of the similarly-themed 1980 cult classic Motel Hell, this is recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the Cairnes Brothers' 2009 short film “Celestial Avenue” (21 min.), a behind-the-scenes featurette (10 min.), a gag reel (4 min.), a brief “Grinding the Roadie” outtake, and the production segments “Morgan's Organic TV Commercials” (10 min.), “Bloody SFX” on the props (5 min.), “Recording the Radio Ad” with the Cairnes (3 min.), “Col and Cam Do the Shed Scene” (3 min.), and a “Mood Reel” short (2 min.), as well as a brief “Reg the Dog's Audition” clip, a storyboard gallery, radio ads, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a fun film.] (T. Keogh)