Next of Kin

What this movie lacks in Swayze, Paxton or Neeson it makes up for with a slow-mo corpse in a bath, an excellent shock reveal of what was a red herring, and a showdown in a diner that goes full moon crazy. Now you might think it unfair to compare the cast of 1989's Next of Kin to the best scenes from this one. To that I ask, "You remember scenes from 1989's Next of Kin?" How embarrassing.

You know it’s Australian when a character simply brushes away a giant spider that would’ve been the monster in any other movie like it was nothing. Holy shit is Australia a nightmare. Crikey you all know the weird slow burns are the best burns, the last act is relentless after an hour of nothing.

Superior chiller with a great creepy atmosphere and some truly memorable imagery captured by some classy camerawork. Even the eighties electronic score is good.

It's less of a slow burn and more like a slow, slightly-too-warm bath.

The only horror movie I know of where the climax involves the protagonist building a pyramid out of sugar cubes

Sheesh, way to only get going (and get pretty damn good) in the last ten minutes (featuring a great death scene involving a key-hole). But much leading up to this denouement is so god-damn vague and unspectacular, it may throw some viewers off (or entice them, as it did to Quentin Tarantino, who named this one of his fave Aussie films). The lead actress does well as a horror leading woman (and she's easy on the eyes), but this is an overwhelmingly general spook-fest with little at stake.

The last half hour has some good showdown scenes, but it's kind of lame up until then. About an hour into the movie, the heroine announces that "there's something evil about this house". We know. By that time we'd already seen the image of the white-dyed old guy drowned in the tub a thousand times and heard about a thousand dialogues like "there's someone in my room" - "no there isn't".

I was expecting more from this movie, but having watched it, it's just mediocre in a lot of ways. Nothing especially great about acting, music, plot, or the cinematography, it moves slowly but doesn't really give you much in the way of suspense. One cool scene that stuck out for me was the 'stabbing through the keyhole and then slow-mo running away in terror'. That one was great. Otherwise, I was just kind of waiting for it to end.

A small gem. It's very stylish and like a hybrid of horror and art film with good score by a member of Tangerine Dream. It might be too much of a slow-burn for some, but I thought that it delivers horror elements whenever it needs to. Plus it's only 90mins and doesn't overstay its welcome. The story might not hold closer inspection, but that hasn't bothered me with Italian horror, so why should it bother here. The last scene is striking and it was surprising to find out that it was an accident.

Thick with atmosphere. Thick with dusty air. A roaming camera that harkens back to Ophüls, but more likely linked to The Shining. Working as almost an inverse of the Shining it’s about how a family can haunt, torment and destruct a single person. A haunting, underrated gem.

A slow-burn. What The Shining would be if it had no budget and was Australian.

folks really love this shit huh? i just wanna watch bubba ho-tep again.

eeeeek it's the elderly! I am frightened of them!

Weird movie with a crazy final act. Viewed on The Last Drive In.

A real slow burner. You have to wait for the third act to see the whole thing unravel, and boy does it unravel. The slow-motion scenes are truly creepy.

I definitely don't mind that it takes its time, and it's very stylish.

Why is there so much fucking slow motion in this damn movie? The film has some good tension build up during the first hour. Just when the film starts to really drag and almost become boring the reveal happens. The film was hampered by some pacing issues and generally bad acting especially by Jacki Kerin who was terrible.