Lost Gully Road (2017)

Review

"I don't want to be here anymore, the place is giving me the shits" - Lucy

Lucy has fled Melbourne due to a seriously wrong relationship and is hiding out in a cabin somewhere in the Dandenong ranges that her Sister rented. Apparently the girls have some sort of plan that requires Lucy to stay out of sight for a few days, plan never explained, and of course she can't turn on her mobile phone. The female owner of the cabin lays on a basket of stuff but unfortunately Lucy is going to be sans internet, television, and apparently radio. She also runs into the local grocery store owner who is a bit on the perv side. Said grocery store sells booze, naturally groceries, and knickers.

It doesn't take long before Lucy discovers she may not be as alone as she thinks. Slowly supernatural events escalate till Lucy suddenly discovers she's in the middle of Paranormal Activity via The Entity, except without the demonic influences of the first movie. But what is up with the locals, and why is this movie getting more praise than a barrel full of monkeys at Christmas. Yes I'm going with overrated on this one so just get those emails brimming with hatred flooding in cause no one should disagree with the prevailing view amongst the wine and cheese lot.

Director McRae starts her movie effectively with a driver's POV down a back road thus informing us that Lucy is going to be somewhere isolated, somewhere without much possibility of help. It equally tells us that the Director is not going to be overburdened with a large budget which normally spells problems for a feature length movie but which Donna McRae overcomes with an above average attention to tension and atmosphere. This isn't McRae's first supernatural rodeo but it is her first attempt at a full length horror outing.

If you ever wanted a haunted house movie with some teeth then you are probably in the right place as regardless of thoughts on the issues Lost Gully Road might have it definitely ticks all the right boxes on the paranormal activity front. We have the gradually increase in unexplained activity, the discovery of why the isolated rental has become a bad place, and a final explosive confrontation that while effective has a few problems.

To the horror particulars and the tactics McRae uses in presenting the unseen. Prior to the final act, which is pretty much over the top and unfortunately drops into Hollywood shock and awe tactics, the movie slowly unfolds and gets where it goes by faint indications of something unworldly happening. A fire that starts itself, the appearance of a vase of flowers, a coffee table suddenly being repaired, more faint breezes of unease than outright terror. While this might indicate a haunting it could equally be the work of the landlady who apparently comes and goes whenever she feels like it. Less likely to be the work of our resident backwards lady is the strange sounds at night, put down to possum activity, a strange stain on a ceiling that seems to be increasing, and a feeling that Lucy has that someone is watching her in the shower which is helped by McRae's ever voyeuristic camera.

Showing she has a handle on the whole horror thing McRae dials in one of the major tropes of haunting, the "don't poke the bear" as I call it. In movies as diverse as Paranormal Activity, Rose Red - okay that was a mini-series, Beckoning the Butcher, and The Shining the supernatural threat would be little more than an inconvenience if one or more if the characters involved hadn't given some sort of energy to that threat. In Paranormal Activity Micah really goes out of his way to irritate a demonic entity, by use of the ever dangerous Ouija board and otherwise calling the demon out, talk about a dumb arse. Professor Joyce Reardon puts together a team to visit the titular decaying manse, and goes out of her way to include people that will feed into the house's cell. Of course in Beckoning the Butcher, hey a local effort, Chris Shaw throws off the shackles of anything like sensibility to pretty much summon the forces of hell. And of course the forces that dwell in the winter locked halls of The Shinning are awakened when Danny Torrance jump starts things. Strangely in Lost Gully Road Lucy pretty much has a fling with what might be dwelling in the isolated cabin, she has dinner with it in one of the more bizarre scenes I've ever seen, and hey we're talking some sexual tension and yeah that gets relieved. Guess that's where the comparison to The Entity comes in, uhmm, you know sex with a supernatural being.

Phew that last paragraph was long folks, and just to piss a few readers off, it might all be in Lucy's mind! Director Donna McRae isn't telling through 95% of the movie but then blows it at the conclusion with the locals being aware that something haunts the cabin. Don't get me started on one of the more unneeded endings in a modern horror, double face palming doesn't even come into it, this would have been so much better if McRae had of gone the full Babadook on our arses. Just saying kids, which kind of leap frogs into the problems I had with Lost Gully Road.

But first a word about our lead for the evening Adele Perovic (Lucy) who smashes the role like she was born to play the might be crazy Lucy. Perovic pretty much is across what is a tough character to play, nails all the required emotions, and does the physical requirements of Lucy's torment without raising a sweat. Considering she has to hold the audience for great swaths of the movie this could have gone horribly wrong, yet our lead will hold your attention. If you need a chick to play a tough, yet vulnerable, role then give Adele Perovic's agent a bell right now.

Okay so I found a few glaring issues with the movie that had me scratching my head and nodding at overrated. As noted above the movie falters when it looks like it just might cross the line into dark genre cult status. The plot falters in the final few scenes and the culmination is at best only going to work for really stupid people, which is a pity as things were bubbling away quite successfully up to then. Equally what the hell was with the Shop Keeper, dude the knicker thing - well beyond unacceptable, but towards the end he is doing his best to help Lucy out, albeit in a slightly creepy scummy fashion. The character is a paper cutout because you know white male equals bad or some such. Ms McRae's agenda, while not exactly brimming with political message in this movie, does make for some really weird decisions on character and plotting. Nope not seeing whatever post-feminist message I'm meant to be taking from the movie, moreover I am just seeing some poorly handled narrative themes. As opposed to the apologists that are claiming Lost Gully Road is a massive statement of the plight of women in the modern paternalist society I'm saying this one drops the ball when it comes to making a subversive statement.

Don't even want to mention this but someone has to, this movie moves at glacial speed, I'm not against that, slow build ups can deliver their own rewards, but we kind of don't get the payoff to make the experience worthwhile here. Things may get a bit tense from time to time but to be honest this wasn't holding my attention as much as it should.

Before anyone starts to wonder if I'm not going to cover the usual horror bases, well we're rounding third base kids. Not much to report on the T&A stakes, a bit of shower fun, but nothing overtly perv value, dudes we're in a feminist movie here what were you expecting? In terms of violence, that would be on the low side of the metre, besides some poltergeist tropes nothing is happening including one of the more ludicrous off screen deaths I've ever witnessed. Director McRae lets her atmosphere work for the scare factor but eases off on the tension rather than nailing that to the barn door. We get a couple of jump scares, in sort of a weird fashion, but the practical effects are not anything we haven't seen before.

Overall I got enjoyment out of Lost Gully Road and dug the attempt to roll out a movie to rival The Babadook, pity about the ending to be honest. You get a fair amount of atmosphere happening, the tension is evident at times, and an outstanding performance by Adele Perovic. Considering this movie had a low budget Director Donna McRae has delivered while not giving the shining light to female horror cinema some folk want you to believe about this movie. Worth a recommendation, the movie does more good than harm, drop this one on a slow rainy Sunday afternoon. Take a trip down Lost Gully road and check out the local scenery, just don't stay too long.