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Surrogate
Australia 2022
produced by David Willing, Vikki Blinks, Konfir Kabo (executive), Kestie Morassi (executive), Shaun Miller (executive) for Black Spade Productions, King Chester Productions
directed by David Willing
starring Kestie Morassi, Jane Badler, Taysha Farrugia, Louise Siversen, Darcy Kent, Ellie Tevelis, Kate Cole, Matthew Crosby, Ellie Stewart, Brett Cousins, Jennifer Vuletic, Olivia Solomons, Nicholas Jaquinot, Sophie Cheeseman, Adam La Rosa, Scott Jackson, Roy Barker, Anthony John Lynch, Arlo Cimino, Cait Spiker
written by Beth King, David Willing, music by Mark Buys, special makeup effects by Renee Schulz
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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On her way home from work, Natalie (Kestie Morassi) stumbles upon a
dying woman (Jennifer Vuletic) and tries to save her - without much luck,
as the woman has actually poisoned herself. A few days later, Natalie
herself suffers some severe symptoms, and once in hospital, she's told she
has given birth. Thing is, neither is there a baby, nor has Natalie been
pregnant, nor could she have been, not having had sex in over a year. And
even if all her colleagues vouch that she really hasn't been pregnant,
this smells (understandably) fishy to child services officer Lauren (Jane
Badler), who soon sticks her head into Natalie's affairs and investigates
her relationship to her (acutal) daughter Rose (Taysha Farrugia), which
both mother and daughter insist couldn't be better - but why then all the
bruises on Rose's body? Rose insists they're the work of the girl that
sometimes sneaks into her room at night to pinch her - but there's the
next conundrum, there's no other girl in the house. Then one day it seems
Rose is pushed down the stairs by invisible hands - she survives with only
minor injuries -, upon which Natalie turns to a child medium (Ellie
Stewart) and her father (Matthew Crosby) ... who after a séance leave
Natalie's house in terror. Natalie and Rose move in with Natalie's mother
(Louise Siversen), fearing their house is haunted, but they've brought
whatever-it-is with them, and eventually, Natalie has to realize the
spirit or demon or whatever isn't really after Rose, but after herself,
and it might have to do with the woman whom Natalie tried to save at the
beginning of the film, and with a very terrible crime ... A
very nice and properly atmospheric ghost story that certainly keeps one
guessing throughout to amount to a very unexpected ending, and that while
being narratively sound and soundly structured, doesn't try to
over-explain things or properly label every scare - which really works in
favour of storytelling here. And Kestie Morassi sure gives a
powerful performance here carrying the movie, while being surrounded by a
very able cast. And all of this amounts to a pretty cool genre piece, with
all the suspense, the creepiness and the jump scares in all the right
places.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Thanks for watching !!!
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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