With Halloween approaching I wanted to make a list of Australian and New Zealand horror films to share with you. How many have you seen on this list? There are no doubt more that could be added. Why not take a revisit this Halloween and indulge in one or more of these horror films.
I have added a X next to my personal favourites, if you have a favourite please let me know in the comments, or add some more that you can think of.
Night of Fear (1972) X
Night of Fear is considered one of Australia's first horror film and was written and directed by Terry Bourke and produced by Rod Hay. It was originally meant to be a television pilot hence its short running time of 54 minutes for a anthology series called Fright, however it was deemed too graphic. Night of Fear is about a young woman who's car breaks down and she is terrorized by a hermit who stalks and captures her. This classic Australian horror film's theme and style bears striking resemblance to Texas Chainsaw Massacre which followed two years later. Night of Fear was initially banned in Australian by the OFLC, the makers made an appeal to the review board and it was released in November 1972 with an 'R' rating. There is no dialogue in this film and it was shot over 12 days.
Wake in Fright (1971)
Night of Fear (1972)
The Cars That Ate Paris (1974)
Inn of the Damned (1975)
Inn of The Damned is considered Australia's first horror western. Also directed by Bourke, Inn of The Damned is set in 1896 and is about a crazy woman and her husband running a inn in Eastern Victoria, who take revenge for the deaths of their children. A bounty hunter is sent to investigate the mysterious deaths of many people and puts and end to the killing.
The Last Wave (1977)
Long Weekend (1978)
Patrick (1978) X
The Night of the Prowler (1978)
The Night The Prowler, is about the dark side of suburban middle-class urban culture and family relations. It film brings to the surface some of the darkest recesses of suburban family life. The film shifts from the darkly comic to the deadly serious. A young woman is attacked by a prowler in her bedroom but she turns the tables on him and she ravishes him. She then transforms into a knife wielding, leather jacketed prowler herself and begins sneaking in men's bedrooms at night. The prowlee becomes the prowler.
The Death Train (1978)
Thirst (1979) X
The Plumber (1979)
Dark Forces (1980)
Road Games (1981) X
Road Games is a 1981 Australian horror-thriller film directed by Richard Franklin and starring Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis. The film follows a truck driver travelling across Australia who, along with the help of a hitchhiker, seeks to track down a serial killer who is butchering women and dumping their dismembered bodies along desolate highways.
Strange Behavior (1981)
Alison's Birthday (1981) X
Evil Speak (1981)
Escape 2000 (1982)
Next of Kin (1982) X
Turkey Shoot (1982)
Razorback (1984) X
Death Warmed Up (1984)
Directed by David Blythe Death Warmed up is about a kid who is hypnotized by a scientist to kill both his parents and ends up in a mental hospital. As an adult he seeks revenge.
Cassandra (1986)
Dead-End Drive In (1986)
Fortress (1986) X
Fair Game (1986) X
Dangerous Game (1987)
Outback Vampires (1987) X
AKA The Wicked was directed by Colin Eggleston and is about two rodeo guys and a female hitchhiker that go up against a vampires.
Zombie Brigade (1987)
Dark Age (1987)
Contagion (1987)
Howling III: The Marsupials (1987) X
Howling III: The Marsupials is probably the most tongue in cheek Australian horror film of the 1980's. Cashing in on a time where Ken Done, Paul Hogan and Koala Blue were still in the forefront of how the international audience viewed all things Australian. Directed by Philippe Mora the Howling III is about a female werewolf that runs away from her family, and falls in love with a man who works in the movie business, while a sociologist who studies these creatures is looking for proof of their existence.
Bad Taste (1988) X
Vicious! (1988)
Spook (1988) X
The 13th Floor (1988)
Written and Directed by Chris Roache The 13th Floor is about a girl who witnesses her father electrocute a young boy. As an adult the ghost of the murdered boy appears to her, and together they must set out to expose the crimes committed by her father.
Stones of Death (1988)
Dead Calm (1989) X
Celia (1989)
Bloodmoon (1990)
Directed by Alec Mills - Bloodmoon is about a serial killer at a girls school, who strangles his victims with barbed wire.
Dead Alive (1992) X
Blood Lust (1992) X
Body Melt (1993) X
Bedevil (1993)
The Frighteners (1996) X
13 Gantry Row (1998)
Witch Hunt (1999)
Cut (2000)
Cut is a 2000 Australian slasher film about a killer that begins to stalk the actors of a low budget horror film, killing them off one by one. Directed by Kimble Rendall, this film called upon the talent of American Actress Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club) and Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue to help sell the film.
Stygian (2000)
Cubbyhouse (2001)
Hellion (2002)
To Become One (2002)
The Locals (2003)
Lost Things (2003)
Directed by Martin Murphy - Lost Things is about four teenagers who escape to a deserted beach for a weekend of fun and discovery, only to find that their dreams turn into a nightmare.
Undead (2003)
Visitors (2003)
Subterano (2003)
Lost Things (2003)
Wolf Creek (2005)
Feed (2005) X
Directed by Brett Leonard - Feed tells the story of a crime investigator searching for a man who is suspected of feeding women to death.
Black Sheep (2006) X
Modern Love (2006)
Black Water (2007) X
The Ferryman (2007)
Rogue (2007) X
A Nocturne (2007)
Storm Warning (2007) X
One of my favourite Australian horror movies and I have to say one of our most under rated horror films - Storm Warning directed by Jamie Blanks is about a yuppie couple out on a boat ride that have to find land to take shelter due to a storm, they seek refuge in an isolated farm house, that is unfortunately inhabited by a family of crazy men. This film has some unforgettable horror moments - such as the old vegemite jar scene.
The Tattooist (2008)
Acolytes (2008)
Dying Breed (2008) X
The Gates of Hell (2008)
Dead Country (2008)
Bloodspit (2008)
Directed by Duke Hendrix - BloodSpit is the story of Count Bloodspit and his family of ghouls return from the Vampire Mirror World to feast on young virgins, they find vampire hunter Dr. Ludvic hot on their trail.
I Know how many runs you scored Last Summer (2008)
Prey (2009)
The Loved Ones (2009) X
The Dark Lurking (2009)
Deader Country (2009)
Damned by Dawn (2009)
Dreamtimes Over (2009)
Family Demons (2009)
Written and Directed by Ursula Dabrowsky - Family Demons tells the story of an abused teenage girl who murders her alcoholic mother, the mother's vengeful spirit returns to haunt her. Even in death, the mother is hell bent on denying her daughter her freedom.
Daybreakers (2010)
The Reef (2010) X
Needle (2010)
Uninhabited (2010)
Primal (2010)
Directed by Josh Reed - Primal tells the story of a group of friends travel into the Australian bush to view ancient cave paintings but soon find a horrible sickness gripping one of their own, which leaves them with nothing in their mind but a primal blood lust.
Purge (2010)
Road Kill (2010)
The Tunnel (2011)
Have Sex and Die (2011)
Panic at Rock Island (2011)
100 Bloody Acres (2012)
The Caretaker (2012)
Crawlspace (2012)
Directed by Justin Dix - Crawlspace is about a special forces unit sent, to infiltrate Pine Gap Australia's top secret underground military compound, come under attack from unknown forces.
Bait (2012)
Wolf Creek 2 (2013)
Murder Drome (2013)
The Babadook (2014)
Charlie's Farm (2014)
The Butcher Possessions (2014)
Plague (2014)
Lemon Tree Passage (2014)
Directed by David Campbell - Lemon Tree Passage is about a couple of Aussie's that introduce their American backpacker friends to the local legend of Lemon Tree Passage, where a ghost of a motorcyclists warns young drives to slow down.
Inner Demon (2014)
Wyrmwood (2015)
Observance (2015)
The Pack (2015)
Directed by Nick Robertson - The Pack tells the story of a farmer and his family who must fight for survival after a ferocious pack of wild dogs infiltrates their isolated farmhouse.
The Fear of Darkness (2015)
Bullets for the Dead (2015)
The Second Coming (2015)
Fight Like a Girl (2015)
The Priest (2015)
The Quarantine Hauntings (2015)
Directed by Arnold Perez and Bianca Biasi The Quarantine Hauntings tells the story of 17 yr old Jasmine as she struggles to come to terms with her father's death. She and her best friend Skye are left to take care of their younger siblings Zac, Blake, and Eva when their mothers Sandy and Katherine decide to go on a girls' night out to give Sandy a breather. Jasmine and Skye take the kids to the notoriously haunted Quarantine station to research a school assignment where they find out more about a resident ghost: Jolene Denman, AKA the girl in the pink dress
Killing Ground (2016)
Red Billabong (2016)
Red Christmas (2016)
Other World (2016)
Scare Campaign (2016)
Awake in my Sleep (2016)
No 46 (2016)
Hounds of Love (2017)
Directed by Ben Young - Hounds of Love tells the story of Vicki Maloney who is randomly abducted from a suburban street by a disturbed couple. As she observes the dynamic between her captors she quickly realises she must drive a wedge between them if she is to survive.
Babaroga (2017)
Lost Gully Road (2017)
Dead Sunrise (2017)
The Last Hope (2017)
Tarnation (2017)
3rd Night (2017)
Cargo (2017) X
Directed by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke - Cargo tells the story of a father who searches for someone willing to protect his daughter after an epidemic spreads all over Australia,
Boar (2017)
Conscious (2018)
Beast No More (2019)
The Furies (2019)
Little Monsters (2019)
Relic (2020)
Black Water Abyss (2020)
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