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100 Bloody Acres

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Wikipedia article




'100 Bloody Acres' is a 2012 Australian horror comedy film directed and written by brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes. Damon Herriman and Angus Sampson star as opportunistic, rural fertiliser manufacturers who resort to using human remains for their business. It premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 4 August 2012, and it was released in the United States on 28 June 2013.

Plot



Brothers Reg (Damon Herriman) and Lindsay Morgan (Angus Sampson) own and operate a small blood and bone fertiliser business in South Australia. While making local deliveries and the occasional roadkill pick up, Reg, a soft and friendly man, encounters the crash site of a van, and finds the driver dead inside. Recovering the body from the crash, he puts it in the back of his own truck. Making his way back to the brothers' plant, Reg is delayed again, this time by three tourists stuck on the side of the road: Sophie (Anna McGahan), a young woman; James (Oliver Ackland), Sophie's boyfriend; and Wes (James Kristian), James' friend. Reg takes an instant attraction to Sophie, and, against his better judgement, allows the three to ride with him.

Before the trio climb into the truck, Reg frantically hides the body beneath a pile of fertiliser sacks and manages to hide all of the evidence, explaining away the smell as manure and roadkill. Wes and James ride in the back of the truck with the hidden corpse, and Sophie rides up front with Reg. Sophie gets to know Reg and the two appear to form a bond. Sophie confides in Reg that shes having an affair with Wes, and Reg attempts to comfort her. Meanwhile in the back of the truck, James tells Wes that he plans to marry Sophie.

To pass the time, Wes offers James a tab of LSD, which James declines. Wes nevertheless consumes the LSD, only to suddenly discover the corpse of the van driver. The two, in fear for their lives, try to persuade Reg to pull over under the guise of needing fresh air from the smell. Pretending to let the boys out, Reg fearfully threatens them, all without Sophie realising somethings wrong. When the boys reveal they know about the body, Reg begins to panic and pulls back onto the road. Sophie starts to find things in common with Reg, but Reg's anxiety continues to get the better of him. This unnerves Sophie, and, as soon as the truck arrives at the plant, Reg detains her.

The rough, angry and volatile Lindsay arrives and demands to know what is going on. Reg suggests that they can grind the people into fertiliser, and Lindsay berates him for his lack of planning for such a bold crime. Ultimately, Lindsay agrees to Reg's idea, and it is revealed that the pair have ground humans in the past, in order to create a new formula for their fertiliser. The brothers had once ground up a group of charity volunteers who crashed and died in a nearby road accident. Reg manages to convince Lindsay that their product needs a component that gives them an edge over the competition, and uses a new, major client as collateral in justifying his crimes.

Wes and James are soon detained with Sophie, and the trio watch as Reg and Lindsay grind the driver. When Wes cuts himself loose and escapes, Lindsay pursues him. Sophie takes advantage of the situation and attempts to seduce Reg, much to James' chagrin. Reg catches on to the ruse and exposes Sophie's infidelity with Wes, further angering James. The chains suspending James above the boiler are beginning to slip, and a frantic Sophie watches James drop lower and lower.

Wes manages to flee to a nearby attraction, where he evades Lindsay and lures him to a secluded area. When Lindsay is distracted, Wes strikes him over the head, knocking him out. Wes runs out to Lindsays car, only to realise that the keys must still be with Lindsay. Before he can retrieve the keys and make a clean getaway, the LSD begins to take effect, and Wes begins to deeply hallucinate. Lindsay regains consciousness. In a state of euphoria, Wes mistakenly approaches Lindsay, who strikes and captures Wes, trapping him in the back of his car.

While driving back to the farm, Lindsay is pulled over by state police officer Burke (referred to as Burkey, played by John Jarratt), who is investigating the van crash that Reg encountered earlier. While Officer Burke chats with Lindsay, he observes a knocking coming from the back of Lindsays car. Lindsay convinces Burke that the noise is thanks to a twitching, nearly dead kangaroo he found on the side of the road. Just as Burke prepares to leave, Wes screams out, and Lindsay opens to boot. As Burke scrambles to get help, Lindsay shoots him, loading him into the back of the car.

Lindsay soon returns with Wes and Burke. Reg now begins to have serious second thoughts about their actions and plan, especially since he admitted his feelings of attraction to Sophie. Reg saves James, whos now suspended and gagged. When Reg removes James gag, only for James to insult Sophie, Reg smacks him. Flustered, Reg hears Lindsay return and attempts to reason with him. Reg stands up to Lindsay, only for Lindsay to beat him down. Lindsay drags Reg to the car, and Reg absentmindedly opens the boot. Still somewhat hallucinating, Wes fires a shot at Reg, hitting him in the shoulder. Lindsay strikes the gun out of Wes hand, cutting Wes fingers and part of his palm off in the process. When Nancy (Chrissie Page), their elderly neighbour, surprises the brothers with a visit, Lindsay stuffs Reg in a car boot with Wes. Reg comforts Wes, and they work together to escape. Reg enters the house alone to confront his brother.

Reg overhears Lindsay tell Nancy that Reg has moved away, perhaps permanently. As Reg gathers his courage, Lindsay and Nancy begin to have sex. Severely disturbed, Reg decides instead to stealthily steal Lindsay's keys. As he is about to take them, Wes stumbles into the house, looking for his missing hand. In a fit of rage, Lindsay kills Wes and Nancy, and Reg flees with the keys. James and Sophie panic when they hear the gunshots, but Sophie decides to return to the farm when she hears Reg call out to her; James angrily breaks up with Sophie as she leaves. After a brief struggle, Lindsay overpowers and ties up Reg. As Lindsay prepares Reg for grinding, Sophie returns and distracts Lindsay. Reg is able to pull him in to the grinder, killing him; afterward, Sophie and Reg share a momentary attraction. In a post credits scene, James hysterically runs onto the road and is killed by a reckless driver.

Cast



* Damon Herriman as Reg Morgan

* Angus Sampson as Lindsay Morgan

* Anna McGahan as Sophie

* Oliver Ackland as James

* James Jamie Kristian as Wes

* Chrissie Page as Nancy

* John Jarratt as Burke

* Paul Blackwell as Charlie Wick

Production



Producer Julie Ryan met the Cairnes brothers at the Australian Film Commission's IndiVision Lab in 2008, and her company Cyan Films, became attached to the project just prior to the Cairnes brothers winning the Horror-Thriller category for scriptwriting at the 2010 Slamdance Writing Competition. The film was funded by Screen Australia, South Australian Film Corporation, Film Victoria and the Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund. In January 2012, production for the film started in Adelaide, South Australia.

Release



The film premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2012. It was then an Official Selection at the 2013 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, and released in the US 28 June 2013.

Reception



Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 79% of 38 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 6.48/10. Metacritic rated it 63/100. Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com called it "the best low-budget horror comedy since 'Shaun of the Dead', and one of the most assured first features in ages." Jeannette Catsoulis of 'The New York Times' wrote that film lacks originality but "has its own hick charm, mostly because of performers who never overplay their hands." Mark Olsen of the 'Los Angeles Times' called it a "giddy, delightful gross-out horror-comedy mash-up". Drew Hunt of the 'Chicago Reader' wrote, "Though entertaining enough as a genre exercise, the film is too simplistic to transcend its base concept." Megan Lehmann of 'The Hollywood Reporter' called it an "off-the-wall Australian splatter-comedy" with "lively performances" and "a shrewdly structured screenplay". Richard Kuipers of 'Variety' called it "a gory and funny riff on the trusty standby of city kids being menaced by rural types". Kwenton Bellette of Twitch Film wrote that it "stand out from most horrors; it plays with convention and molds it into a sick and twisted form."

Awards



References




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