RackaRacka film-makers Michael and Danny Philippou let rip in their feature debut about suburban teens and an occult craze
The Philippou brothers, Michael and Danny, are young film-makers from Adelaide who started as production runners on Australian horror classic The Babadook and achieved a cult following for their film spoofs on YouTube under the handle RackaRacka; now with their debut feature they’ve let rip with a blast of wild punk energy and gleeful anarchy with this terrific scary movie. The opening party scene on its own has more voltage than a lot of horror movies, or any kind of movie. If the Sex Pistols ever directed a version of The Monkey’s Paw, it might look like this: a chilling adventure under which there is, however, an undertow of pathos, its title an ironic twist on the emotional pain involved in not talking about your feelings.
Sophie Wilde plays Mia, a young woman whose mum died after an overdose of pills which everyone has assured her was accidental, though her dad Max (Marcus Johnson) is unwilling to talk about it. Now lonely Mia likes hanging out at the house of her friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen), Jade’s kid brother Riley (Joe Bird) and her mum Sue (Miranda Otto), almost like a new member of the family.
