THE FURIES
***
Director: Tony D’Aquino
Screenwriter: Tony D’Aquino
Principal cast:
Airlie Dodds
Linda Ngo
Ebony Vagulans
Taylor Ferguson
Kaitlyn Boyé
Harriet Davies
Danielle Horvat
Country: Australia/United Arab Emirates
Classification: R18+
Runtime: 82 mins.
Australian release date: 7 November 2019
Previewed at: Dendy Newtown, Sydney, on 23 October 2019.
Not to be confused with the eponymous 1950 Western starring Barbara Stanwyck, The Furies is an old-school slasher pic from debut director/writer Tony D’Aquino, a gore-fest in the vein of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that, regrettably, brings nothing new or fresh to the genre. In fact, the screenplay is downright clichéd and derivative, which is a shame because there’s some solid behind-the-scenes technical skill on show in the film. Those concerned have gone to a lot of trouble to get this low-budget movie on the screen and make it look good, so it’s a pity that they didn’t have better material to work with, story-wise.
Kayla (Airlie Dodds) and her best mate Maddie (Ebony Vagulans) argue one night and separate angrily. As she’s walking away, Kayla hears Maddie screaming but when she runs to investigate, she is attacked and blacks out. Waking up in the middle of the bush in a black box marked ‘Beauty 6’, she soon finds that she is not alone; an horrific, mute, ‘Beast’ wearing a hideous mask and wielding an axe, appears out of nowhere and tries to kill her. As she flees the monster, she meets Rose (Linda Ngo) and another girl, and together they conclude that there are other ‘Beasts’ and ‘Beauties’ roaming the woods and that it all seems to be some kind of sick game in which the women are the prey and they’re constantly under observation, like in The Hunger Games. When the trio splits up, Kayla understands that it’s every woman for herself and she will have to find Maddie and figure a way out of this life-and-death situation herself if she is going to survive.
So far, so ho-hum. What stands out are the tech credits: Kenneth Lampl and Kirsten Axelholm’s music is suitably ominous, even if a bit obvious, and the sound design and sound effects are very good; the special effects, make-up and prosthetics for the evocatively named RotFace, PigFace, BabyFace et al, are excellent for a low-budget gore-fest such as this; and the wide-screen lensing by Gary Richards makes the Lake George, near Canberra, and Bywong locations suitably stark and scary. In front of the camera, Airlie Dodds carries the lead role well as she morphs from a sheltered and innocent city-slicker into a kick-ass, revenge-seeking action heroine. Unfortunately, some of the supporting actresses don’t rise to the occasion as well as she does.
The Furies is not a bad calling card for D’Aquino as a director but he would be well-advised to film the work of other writers in future. His ending is unsatisfactory and leaves more questions hanging in the air than answers. It looks like we’re being set up for a sequel but, somehow, I don’t think we’ll be seeing The Furies - Part 2.
Screenwriter: Tony D’Aquino
Principal cast:
Airlie Dodds
Linda Ngo
Ebony Vagulans
Taylor Ferguson
Kaitlyn Boyé
Harriet Davies
Danielle Horvat
Country: Australia/United Arab Emirates
Classification: R18+
Runtime: 82 mins.
Australian release date: 7 November 2019
Previewed at: Dendy Newtown, Sydney, on 23 October 2019.
Not to be confused with the eponymous 1950 Western starring Barbara Stanwyck, The Furies is an old-school slasher pic from debut director/writer Tony D’Aquino, a gore-fest in the vein of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that, regrettably, brings nothing new or fresh to the genre. In fact, the screenplay is downright clichéd and derivative, which is a shame because there’s some solid behind-the-scenes technical skill on show in the film. Those concerned have gone to a lot of trouble to get this low-budget movie on the screen and make it look good, so it’s a pity that they didn’t have better material to work with, story-wise.
Kayla (Airlie Dodds) and her best mate Maddie (Ebony Vagulans) argue one night and separate angrily. As she’s walking away, Kayla hears Maddie screaming but when she runs to investigate, she is attacked and blacks out. Waking up in the middle of the bush in a black box marked ‘Beauty 6’, she soon finds that she is not alone; an horrific, mute, ‘Beast’ wearing a hideous mask and wielding an axe, appears out of nowhere and tries to kill her. As she flees the monster, she meets Rose (Linda Ngo) and another girl, and together they conclude that there are other ‘Beasts’ and ‘Beauties’ roaming the woods and that it all seems to be some kind of sick game in which the women are the prey and they’re constantly under observation, like in The Hunger Games. When the trio splits up, Kayla understands that it’s every woman for herself and she will have to find Maddie and figure a way out of this life-and-death situation herself if she is going to survive.
So far, so ho-hum. What stands out are the tech credits: Kenneth Lampl and Kirsten Axelholm’s music is suitably ominous, even if a bit obvious, and the sound design and sound effects are very good; the special effects, make-up and prosthetics for the evocatively named RotFace, PigFace, BabyFace et al, are excellent for a low-budget gore-fest such as this; and the wide-screen lensing by Gary Richards makes the Lake George, near Canberra, and Bywong locations suitably stark and scary. In front of the camera, Airlie Dodds carries the lead role well as she morphs from a sheltered and innocent city-slicker into a kick-ass, revenge-seeking action heroine. Unfortunately, some of the supporting actresses don’t rise to the occasion as well as she does.
The Furies is not a bad calling card for D’Aquino as a director but he would be well-advised to film the work of other writers in future. His ending is unsatisfactory and leaves more questions hanging in the air than answers. It looks like we’re being set up for a sequel but, somehow, I don’t think we’ll be seeing The Furies - Part 2.