Throwback (2015)

That was an excellent one.

Great Film overall

Best movie ever!

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

There's something in the trees. It's big and it's shaggy and could possibly be a Yowie, a kind of Bigfoot-type. Only glimpsed sporadically and often partially obscured by rampant foliage, this familiar trick by Director (and writer) Travis Bain is used to tease us as to the specifics of the creature's appearance, and also to obfuscate any short-comings of the man-in-a-suit costume. No CGI here.Kent and Jack (Anthony Ring and Shawn Brack, soon joined by Melanie Serrafin as Rhiannon) are such good fun that despite the former's continual misdeeds, it is a shame when he dies – partly because, because he has proved to be such a louse, he deserved a more prolonged send-off. The dialogue contains many moments of humour, but this is never allowed to dispel the carefully built up scenes with the Yowie, which rarely transcends its man-in-a-suit origins, sadly.Some of the set pieces last just a little too long – there is a scene with a Detective McNabb that could have done with some judicial trimming. The creature has no end of bullets fired into it without apparent effect, and yet the human protagonists still believe a bullet will stop it.This is a good, solid story, full of surprises and twists that belies the very small budget. A couple of the gore effects are very convincing, and the scenery of misty, remote Queensland jungles are very well shot. From start to finish, this is really enjoyable, with a very satisfying ending.

This was a bit poor to be honest and felt like it went on forever. I love low budget horror, especially Bigfoot and werewolf movies but the cardinal sin is to not show the monster (even if it's a ropey homemade costume attempt). I can understand the last reviewer smelling something fishy about the previous amazing ones as this is nowhere near the best Australian movie of the year and would probably be lucky to get into the top 50. On the plus side it didn't take itself too seriously and the characters were likable enough.The plot was average but could have made up for it with a bit of gore. It gives me no pleasure in saying this but overall it's a grim effort.

As the third reviewer I might possibly be the first non-production associated reviewer here. Reviewers one and two have given this rather bad film glowing rewards. This is a badly directed, cast and acted. The shot angles do not flow into each other well. The monster is a joke, plus you never really get to see it clearly. The sound effects and sound mix are pretty ordinary, plus the music, which in itself is not bad, has been ruined buy getting mixed as flat as a dry lake bed.I normally believe if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything. But as the first two reviewers here have deliberately lied about the quality of this film, I just needed to set things straight. Also the script ... hmmmm ... most of the actors do some pretty illogical things. For example, a character is handcuffed to a one inch thick tree root. There are numerous hefty sized rocks within reach. Rather than working on chipping away at the tree root, the script has our poor character pulverize his hand with one of the rocks so that he can slip it through the hand cuffs. Go figure.It is an amateur effort. At the start it was definitely a comedy (so I thought) then it started taking itself seriously. Better to have kept it comedic.And Holy Hail storms Batman, the director, IMDb name Travoose, sent me messages filled with four letter words and threats very soon after I posted this review. What a nice guy hey?

Don't let the small cast Throw you Back, this is quite a good film. Which I hope finds a bigger audience through distribution. I was able to watch this with the cast and crew at a special sneak peek showing this past May. And I have to tell everyone I really enjoyed it. The film reminds me of the times when a film could shock and scare you, make you wonder what is going to happen next, while not revealing anything to the viewer until the final act. The pacing of the film is fresh and exciting. Also reminds of those early Universal Monster films as well as most recent Raiders of the Lost Ark. Beautifully shot in Australia, showcases locations never seen on film. Acting is also top notch, especially the bad guy.I know I mention nothing about what the film was about, that for you the viewer to seek out and enjoy for yourselves. So check it out when or as soon as you can.