The Australian Film Commission Archives

The Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Rating: ★★★★★

Feb 5, 2001Unexplained Disappearance

Voted the Best Australian film of all time, Peter Weir creates an incredibly haunting mystery about four girls who disappear while on said picnic. A film full of unexplained answers that remains just beyond your fingertips

Director: Peter Weir

Actors: Rachel Roberts, Dominic Guard, John Jarratt

Category: Fantasy

5 February 20012 June 2026 by Roog

The Plumber (1978)

Rating: ★★★

Feb 25, 2006Sinister Handyman

Very odd early Peter Weir film about a strange plumber who moves in and takes over cautious Judy Morris's apartment

Director: Peter Weir

Actors: Judy Morris, Ivor Kants, Candy Raymond

Category: Horror

25 February 20069 July 2024 by Roog

Alison’s Birthday (1979)

Rating: ★

May 2, 1999Occult Conspiracy

Australian-made film about a heroine being drawn into occult conspiracies around her that only treads where Rosemary's Baby went before

Director: Ian Coughlan

Actors: Joanne Samuel, John Bluthal, Vincent Ball, Marion Johns

Category: Horror

2 May 19993 February 2025 by Roog

The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey (1988)

Rating: ★★★★

Jun 23, 2026Mediaevals Time-Travel to the Present

The hugely underrated Vincent Ward makes a film about Mediaeval pilgrims travelling through time to the present. Shot in an series of extraordinary images that show how bewildering the modern world would be to them

Director: Vincent Ward

Actors: Hamish McFarlane, Bruce Lyons, Marshall Napier, Noel Appleby, …

Category: Fantasy

23 June 202624 June 2026 by Roog

Body Melt (1993)

Rating: ★★

May 4, 1999Gooey Meltdowns

Australian splatter film where a series of drug tests causes people to start melting down. A largely plotless film arranged around a series of gooey meltdown effects

Director: Philip Brophy

Actors: Gerard Kennedy, Vince Gil, Andrew Daddo, Amanda Douge

Category: Horror

4 May 199922 February 2020 by Roog

Black Water (2007)

Rating: ★★★★

Aug 25, 2009Killer Crocodile

Although overshadowed by the same year's Rogue, this is another Australian killer crocodile film that racks up a remarkable degree of raw, seat-gouging tension in managing to confine its cast of three to a tree for the duration

Director: Andrew Traucki, David Nerlich

Actors: Maeve Dermody, Diana Glenn, Andy Rodoreda

Category: Horror

25 August 200931 July 2025 by Roog

Lake Mungo (2008)

Rating: ★★½

Jul 3, 2013Australian Haunting Found Footage Film

An Australian Found Footage film about a haunting. Rather than the intense spookiness of Paranormal Activity, this is more a mockumentary that is constantly turning what we expect is going on on its head

Director: Joel Anderson

Category: Horror

3 July 201320 June 2026 by Roog