The Red: Movie Review

Cast: Tess Haubrich, Michael Biehn, A bad CGI kangaroo
Director: Ryan Coonan

As a concept, the idea of a zombie kangaroo going feral on its prey in a small Australian town is a great one.

In reality, director Ryan Coonan's film fails to embrace the premise, preferring to pull together a story about those under threat battling the monster within rather than fighting off the admittedly weak CGI monster without.

When Axetown's young sheriff Maddie (Haubrich) discovers a series of locals are ripped to shreds, she initially baulks at the suggestion that a zombie kangaroo is behind the bloody trail.

But when she locks up a suspect and further killings take place, her attitude changes and suddenly a roo-hunt begins.

For a film promising to be a bloody creature feature and releasing on Halloween, Coonan's The Red (also known as Rippy) spends way too much of its time looking inwardly than leaning extremely into the possibilities of absurdism for its story.

That's fine if what transpires is engaging, but large swathes of The Red are spent examining Maddie's issues with dealing with her father's legacy and whether Michael Biehn's scenery-chewing Vietnam vet Schmitty deserves to get back with his ex rather than full-on creature mayhem and gore.

A tantalising hint that a local mining company has something to do with the mutations is thrown in but left unexplored, and even though it's adapted from short film Waterborne, there's little to not enough meat on the narrative bones to make this engaging enough and to stave off boredom throughout.

Hints of what could have been emerge throughout the film, chiefly in some dialogue that should have been more hammed up ("G'day Skippy being one of the best) but unfortunately, the execution of this 80 minute film is so uneven, what feels like a short film still ends up feeling like an eternity spent in the Outback.

Australia's known for plenty of animals that can kill you - but it can now add a film that can also prove to be fatal, thanks to a combination of long scenes of tedium and a faltering premise that never seizes on its potential.