Dying Breed

Review by Anthony Morris

It is a tale as old as time...

A group of young, good-looking types head off to one of the more backward parts of the country, only to discover that what looked like a sleepy (and yes kinda of creepy) community is in fact jam-packed with cannibal mutants.

Oh yeah - and those mutants are hellbent on looking to chew their faces off and rape them - and not always in that order. 

What sets Dying Breed apart from the rest of the pack is that the backwards part of the country these hot young things are visiting isn't the American South, but the real deep south - Tasmania.

Unfortunately, this is the kind of horror movie that takes its horror very seriously, so there aren't as many jokes about two-headed Tasmanians as you might have expected going in.

On the plus side, Tasmania itself (or wherever they shot this film) does look very atmospheric indeed and adds a solid dose of reality to what is, after all, a stock-standard horror tale of cannibal mutants turning people (who spend most of their time running screaming through the forest) into pies. 

The performances, including Nathan Phillips as a bit of a jerk and Leigh Wannell (yes, the guy from the Saw movies) as the frightened nerd / audience identification figure, aren't really enough to make you care whether they live or die but in a film like this that is pretty much what you want. 

And there is a fair amount of fairly inventive and nasty gore on offer as the body count rises...

It is easily on par with your typical American horror film, but it hardly breaks new ground; if you have seen one cannibal mutant rapist movie, you have seen them all.

3.5 out of 5

Dying Breed
Australian release: 6th November, 2008
Official Site: Dying Breed
Cast: Bille Brown, Peter Docker, Brendan Donoghue, Nathan Phillips, Leigh Wannell
Director: Jody Dwyer