This has been a tough week for Shocktober. I’ve been a busy boy and haven’t had the time to watch and write about so many movies with so little time in-between picks. Not to mention most of my early picks have not been readily available on the “stream” as the kids call it. Not until October 12th do the rest of my picks sit comfortably on a reputable streaming platform. No offense to Tubi or whatever fuboTV is. So until then expect a bunch of random crazy shit. Like today’s replacement pick I’m recalling from memory. A blood-soaked buddy comedy from down under.
Written and directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes, 100 Bloody Acres is about a pair of bumbling brothers who own a blood and bone fertilizer business in South Australia. There is Reg Morgan (Damon Herriman—who played Charles Manson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Mindhunter this year) and Lindsay Morgan (Angus Sampson from Insidious and Fargo: Season Two). What’s blood and bone fertilizer you might ask? Well, its a mixture of bone meal from various animals that provides phosphorus and protein. Or if you’re the Morgan brothers its made from dead bodies.
The film opens with Reg finding a dead body after a car wreck and tossing it into his truck trailer. Not long after, Reg spots three tourists stranded on the side of the road and finds himself attracted to the young woman of the group, Sophie (Anna McGahan). Already you can tell Reg isn’t very smart. So Reg conceals the corpse in the back and makes the two dudes ride in back while he sits upfront with Sophie. BIG MISTAKE. I mean, come on dude, the smell alone. The body is discovered which convinces Reg to take the group hostage at the fertilizing facility with the intent to grind the two young men into bone meal.
Lindsay enters the story and he’s pissed. Imposing with a neckbeard that makes him look like a Sacha Baron Cohen character, Lindsay tries to take control of the situation. A power struggle ensues between the brothers as Reg has a change of heart after meeting Sophie. We also learn that the brothers have only ever ground-up bodies by finding dead people on the side of the road. They’re not murderers so there lies the struggle. It’s an off wall hostage/thriller with no shortage of guts and guffaws.
The Morgan brothers feel like a classic comedy pairing. Much like Abbott and Costello, you have the annoyed jerk and the bumbling oaf and both Sampson and Herriman are fully engaged. If anything they should be much bigger stars.
100 Bloody Acres has the energy of a sitcom with the explicit imagery of a torture porn film. Leave to the Aussies to give us yet another reason to fear the outback. That’s all I got folks. Let’s hope I get back to full speed come ‘round this weekend. G’day!