Alien Cargo (1999)
Paranoia-Inducing Alien Virus
Alien crossbred with The Crazies. Jason London and Missy Crider are crewmembers on a spaceship affected by an alien contaminant that makes them turn homicidal
Australian Cinema
Films have been made in Australia since 1906 and sporadically since. However, the true growth of Australian Cinema came from the 1970s onwards. During this period, it exploded with a considerable outpouring of films that gained international acclaim.
Not long after the emergence of Australian cinema as its own identity, it also begat a deluge of exploitation films and a number of genre works – the so-called Ozploitation cycle. This had some enormous international successes most notedly with the trend-setting post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max 2 (1981), and other works. The Ozploitation cycle died away by the mid-1990s but Australia still produces a number of genre works.
Recurrent themes within Australian cinema include the relationship between man and the Outback, which is often seen as having mystical, overwhelming power or be lurking with dangers. Adjacent to these is the popularity of the Crocodile Dundee films about the superiority of a man with knowledge of bushcraft. The mythology of the native Aborigines also features in some films – for which see Aborigine Mythology.
Australian filmmakers of note include Shane Abbess, Bill Bennett, Jamie Blanks, James Bogle, Terry Bourke, Rolf de Heer, Everett de Roche, Justin Dix, Colin Eggleston, Richard Franklin, Anthony I. Ginnane, Rod Hardy, Mark Hartley, Zak Hilditch, Stephen Hopkins, Jennifer Kent, Justin Kurzel, Greg McLean, George Miller, George Miller (ii), Philippe Mora, Russell Mulcahy, Chris Noonan, Phillip Noyce, Alex Proyas, Kimble Rendall, Kiah Roache-Turner, Yahoo Serious, The Spierig Brothers, Andrew Traucki, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Leigh Whannell, Peter Weir, Simon Wincer and Karl Zwicky.
Alison’s Birthday (1979)
Occult Conspiracy
Australian-made film about a heroine being drawn into occult conspiracies around her that only treads where Rosemary’s Baby went before
Almost an Angel (1990)
Man Believes He is an Angel Comedy
Paul Hogan became a huge international star with the Crocodile Dundee films. He next went on to appear in this oddity star as an aging ex-con who believes he is an angel
Arctic Blast (2010)
Wave of Supercold Disaster Movie
Another cheap Syfy Channel disaster movie featuring a cold wave that freezes everything in its path. As expected, this ignores basic science while offering cut-price digital mass destruction effects
As Time Goes By (1988)
Gonzo Time Travel
A very eccentric Australian film about a man wound into solving a temporal paradox by aliens who time travel in a greasy spoon diner
Ascendant (2021)
Girl Trapped in an Elevator
A variant on Buried, which had Ryan Reynolds trapped in a coffin for the duration, featuring a girl trapped in an elevator as it conducts high-speed rises and drops, all before a bizarre left field SF ending
The Babadook (2014)
Childhood Boogeyman
A film about childhood boogeymen that takes place as a work of psychological horrors, where everything could be happening in the imagination of a stressed mother’s collapsing mental state. An extraordinarily assured directorial debut
Babe (1995)
Talking Animals
Runaway hit produced by George Miller of Mad Max fame that conducts what in any other terms would be an animated talking animals film in live-action with CGI and animatronics. The results are utterly charming.
Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
Talking Animals
For this sequel to the hit talking pig film, producer George Miller of Mad Max films fame steps into the director’s chair. However, the cuteness of the original promptly becomes buried under careening slapstick
Backtrack (2015)
Ghost Story
Beautifully made Australian ghost story that creates a strong sense of eerie disquiet as psychologist Adrien Brody realises that all of his patients are dead and is prompted to go on a journey to uncover forgotten things from his past
Bait (2012)
Killer Shark in a Supermarket
A strong contender for the most ridiculous killer shark ever made – something that should have occurred to the producers about the point of the film’s premise of a shark hunting people in a supermarket
The Bank (2001)
Stockmarket Prediction Formula
Smart and intelligent Australian thriller about the invention of a stockmarket prediction formula. This digs its teeth into the banking industry with considerable bite
Beast of War (2025)
Survival in Shark Infested Waters
From the director of the Wyrmwood films, an Australian-made film about a group of soldiers during World War II who become stranded in a sea of sharks following a shipwreck
Billy’s Holiday (1995)
Man Possessed by Billie Holliday's Spirit
Head-scratching Australian oddity in which a middle-aged man becomes possessed and suddenly able to sing with the voice of Billie Holliday
Black Water (2007)
Killer 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
Black Water: Abyss (2020)
Killer Crocodile
The Australian-made Black Water was a gripping thriller about three people in a tree being menaced by a crocodile in the water below. This is a sequel with a further group trapped in a cave and menaced by a killer crocodile
Blood Vessel (2019)
Vampires on a Nazi Ship
Australian film set during World War II as a group of shipwreck survivors board a deserted Nazi ship only to then discover that it is inhabited by vampires
Bloodmoon (1990)
Girl's School Slasher
Belated Australian entry in the slasher genre about killings at a Catholic girls’ school, this is shabby on all counts
Bloody Hell (2020)
Imprisonment By a Strange Family
Oddball Australian Backwoods Brutality film with a man imprisoned by a strange family in Finland who intend to feed him to their hulking son
Body Melt (1993)
Gooey 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
Box: Metaphor (2023)
Future Prison
Australian film about a future where people are imprisoned inside shipping containers, this suggests it is going to be something like another Cube
Bring Her Back (2025)
Sinister Adoption/Resurrection Ritual
Australia’s Philippou Brothers made the word of mouth hit Talk to Me and return here with this equally creepy film with Sally Hawkins as a sinister foster mother
Cargo (2017)
Australian Outback Zombie Film
An Australian effort that feels like a zombie movie version of Walkabout with an infected Martin Freeman wandering the Outback searching for someone to care for his infant daughter before he succumbs
Carnifex (2022)
Monster Movie in the Australian Outback
A monster movie that takes place as a documentary crew are trying to study the wildlife displaced by the Australian bushfires
The Cars That Ate Paris (1974)
Strange Town Based Around Car Crashes
The first film from Peter Weir, a deadpan black comedy in which a man comes around from a car crash to find himself in a small town that subsists by creating car crashes
Cassandra (1987)
Clairvoyance Thriller
An Australian clairvoyance thriller that seems to have substantially drawn its influence from Eyes of Laura Mars. The film was little seen when it came out and the uninvolved direction does little to draw us into what is taking place
The Chain Reaction (1980)
Nuclear Accident Action Thriller
An Australian film from many of the people behind Mad Max about the cover-up of a nuclear accident. Essentially The China Syndrome with the addition of car chases
The Clinic (2010)
Pregnant Woman Forced to Fight to Death
This Australian thriller has a captivating premise – pregnant women are abducted, C-sectioned and imprisoned where they must fight to the death to get their children back
Contagion (1987)
Mysterious Backwoods Happenings/Ozploitation Film
Not a pandemic film despite the title, an obscure oddity from the great era of Ozploitation where a man undergoes a series of strange experiences as he is drawn to a mystery house in the backwoods
Crawlspace (2012)
Amok Laboratory Experiments/Psychic Powers
Australian effort that seems to follow the path of Aliens/Resident Evil with soldiers venturing into a laboratory of amok monsters before a Philip K. Dick-ian twist on what we think is happening
Crosstalk (1982)
AI Murder Mystery
Australian thriller about an inventor who has created an A.I,, although the film only puts it at the purpose of a routine murder mystery plot
Dangerous Animals (2025)
Serial Killer Who Feeds His Victims to Sharks
At variance to the assorted other films about survival in shark-infested waters, this features Jai Courtney in a completely crazed performance as a serial killer who feeds his victims to sharks
Dangerous Game (1987)
Psycho Cop Stalks Teens in a Department Store After Hours
Australian film in which a psychopathic cop pursues a group of teens who break into a department store after hours. A debut film for Stephen Hopkins who went on to a successful career as a Hollywood director.
Dark Age (1987)
Killer Crocodile
Undeniably influenced by Jaws, this Australian effort is the first ever killer crocodile film. Nothing extraordinary, although the film does have an interesting subtext about the conflict between European and Aborigine cultures
The Darkness (2016)
Haunting/Native American Demons Awakened
Greg McLean has made an impressive name with the Wolf Creek films and Rogue. In his first US film, he delivers a disappointing and utterly generic haunted suburban house film
Dating the Enemy (1996)
Gender Exchange Comedy
An Australian variant on the bodyswap comedy in which couple Guy Pearce and Claudia Karvan end up in each other’s bodies resulting in some likeable if predictable comic mishaps
Daybreakers (2009)
World of Vampires
Australia’s The Spierig Brothers create a strong and original scenario for a vampire film set in a future where vampires have killed almost all the humans and the blood supply is now running out.
Dead Calm (1989)
Yachtboard Psycho-Thriller
Stunningly photographed yachtboard psycho-thriller with Nicole Kidman (in her first major film performance) and husband Sam Neill taken prisoner by a psycho Billy Zane. Produced by George Miller
Dead-End Drive-In (1986)
Drive-In Theatre as a Future Prison/Satire
A remarkable little film from Australian director Brian Trenchard-Smith set in a satiric future where teens find they are trapped in a drive-theatre used as a prison for troubled youth
The Dreaming (1988)
Cursed Aborigine Artefacts
Australian film about an Aborigine bracelet taken from an archaeological dig exerting supernatural retribution in the present for a mass murder in the past
The Dustwalker (2019)
Aliens Create Zombies in the Australian Outback
A zombie film of sorts in which the people of an Australian outback town are taken over by an alien force. A zombie film that seems to be trying not to be a zombie film.
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014)
Cannon Films Documentary
Absolutely fascinating documentary about Golan and Globus, the producers of a great deal of action, ninja, Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson films in the 1980s, plus many genre works, under the Cannon Films banner
Epsilon (1997)
Alien Visitor in the Australian Outback
A film from Rolf de Heer, a director who makes highly unusual works and should be better known than he is. In this, an alien woman befriends a man after she appears in the Australian Outback
Fear Below (2025)
Killer Shark
Quite a decent little Australian film in the survival in shark-infested waters stakes about a diving team forced by mobsters to conduct a dive in a river inhabited by a killer shark to retrieve a haul of gold bullion
Feed (2005)
Feeder Fetishism Psycho-Thriller
The one really good film from Brett Leonard, director of The Lawnmower Man, this delves into the fetish community of feederism and determines to push the material to something provocative
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
Environmentally Aware Animation
Animated film where fairies face the threat to their forest posed by a logging operation. Preachy message-making that is all but a recruitment film for Greenpeace and the Sierra Club
Foe (2023)
Near Future/Android Replacement
From the pen of Iain Reid who wrote I’m Thinking of Ending Things, an SF film about a man recruited for a space mission and the training of his android replacement. Expectedly, what is going on is shifting and pulls expectation out from under us
Freelance (2024)
Editor of Snuff Movies
An Australian thriller about a girl who takes an editing job because she needs the money only to realise that what she is asked to work on are snuff movies. The film follows her descent into a dark and disturbed state of mind
Frog Dreaming (1986)
Monster/Aborigine Magic/Children's Film
Modest Australian-made children’s film that imports Henry Thomas riding on the success of E.T. as a teen inventor finding a lake purported to contain a creature from Aborigine legend
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Post-Holocaust Action
45 years on, George Miller returns with a fifth entry in his Mad Max saga, a prequel to Fury Road. As to be expected from Miller, this an exhilarating action piece and makes a welcome return to his post-apocalyptic junkyard world
The Gateway (2018)
Parallel Worlds
The parallel worlds/alternate timelines theme is one rich in possibilities but this Australian film is one of the least imaginative treatments, serving up only tired good/bad double plots
Ghosts … of the Civil Dead (1988)
Brutally Tough Future Prison
The first film from Australian director John Hillcoat, a brutally tough depiction of a maximum security prison set in the future. Singer Nick Cave gives an extremely disturbing performance as an inmate
Girl at the Window (2022)
Girl Thinks Next-Door Neighbour is a Serial Killer
From Mark Hartley, known for his documentaries about cult cinema, a film that borrows the premise of Disturbia where a teenage girl thinks her neighbour is a serial killer
Great White (2021)
Stranded at Sea, Hunted by a Shark
An Australian-made survival drama with a group of people who become stranded at sea aboard a life raft while trying to fight off a killer shark that is lurking
Griff the Invisible (2010)
Man Believes He is a Superhero
An Australian entry in the spate of superheroes with no powers films a la the likes of Kick-Ass, Defendor and Super. This plays out as a quirky but never particularly funny romantic comedy
Guardians of the Tomb (2018)
Tomb-Raiding Adventure
A tomb raiding adventure about the venture into a tomb filled with deadly spiders in search of an immortality serum. A Chinese-Australian-co-production.
A Guide to Dating at the End of the World (2022)
Last People on Earth Romantic Comedy
Australian film that is a romantic comedy take on The Quiet Earth, the classic work about three people who awake in an entirely deserted world
Happy Feet (2006)
Animation/Talking and Dancing Penguins
George Miller of Mad Max fame makes a motion-capture animated film about a young penguin who sets out to fulfill his dream of tap-dancing. This ends up being a film of unexpectedly winning charms
Happy Feet Two (2011)
Animation/Talking and Dancing Penguins
George Miller had a charming and delightful hit with his dancing penguin film Happy Feet. He returns to make a sequel here that merely tries to repeat the same
Harlequin (1980)
Enigmatic Magician
Fascinating Australian film in which Robert Powell plays an enigmatic stage magician who may or may not have real powers who comes to influence a politician’s family
Hercules Returns (1993)
Italian Muscleman Movie with a Rifftrack
Excrutiatingly unfunny Australian film that has taken an old Italian 1960s Italian Hercules film and redubbed it with a comedy rifftrack
Hounds of Love (2016)
Couple Abduct and Imprison a Teenage Girl
Australian film about a couple that abduct and imprison a teenage girl. This received some very good notices in theatrical release but as a horror film, it soft pedals and seems to avoid most of its horror element
I Am Mother (2019)
Survival Shelter Drama
A unique and original fallout shelter drama from Australia that sits in an interesting place of ambiguity. What makes the film stand out is its unique robot design
In the Winter Dark (1999)
Mysterious Creatures in the Australian Outback
A film about mysterious happenings on a farm in the Australian Outback that creates an intensely haunted mood concerning something that might be lurking out there
Incident at Raven’s Gate (1988)
Mysterious Unexplained Events
An enigmatic film from director Rolf de Heer where a town in the Australian Outback is haunted by strange lights and other mysterious unexplained phenomena
Infini (2015)
Mass-Insanity Inducing Alien Substance
An Australian effort that is less the usual people being hunted by alien nasties in darkened corridors standard than ‘The Crazies in Space’. Crippled by a fatal lack of tension and suspense
The Infinite Man (2014)
Time Paradox
An enormously clever Australian time travel film about the mind-boggling conundrums that occur when a man tries to go back in time and stop his girlfriend leaving only to encounter multiple versions of himself come to fix the snowballing situation
Inn of the Damned (1975)
Australian Backwoods Horror
Australian historical film that seems unsure what it wants to be and takes a long, meandering time before ever arriving at being the horror film it announces itself as
Kadaicha (1988)
Aborigine Curse
Australian horror that sets out to combine US models like A Nightmare on Elm Street and a few dashes of Poltergeist with the idea of an Aborigine curse but emerges as poorly executed
Kiss or Kill (1997)
Australian Road Movie Psycho-Thriller
Fine Australian psycho-thriller about a couple on the run from an accidental murder. This comes with sharp twists and ambiguities and a great sense of humour
Lady, Stay Dead (1981)
Psycho Film
An Australian psycho film that gained a fascination, being called sleazy and sordid upon its release. Which of course makes it a must see for Moria
Lake Mungo (2008)
Australian 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
Late Night With the Devil (2023)
Demonic Possession Live on TV
This conducts a perfect simulation of a 1970s tv talkshow with David Dastmalchian as a host who tries to expose/debunk a demonic possession before things go wrong live on air
Like Minds (2006)
Psychological Games in a Boys' Boarding School
A British thriller Eddie Redmayne stars in a about a mystery in a boys boarding school involving murder and secrets from history leading to Knights Templar bloodlines
A Little Bit of Soul (1997)
Longevity Drug and Satanism Black Comedy
Australian black comedy about research into longevity and Satanism. The film has a great cast but hits a shrilly hysteric pitch without ever being funny
Little Monsters (2019)
Zombie Comedy
The premise doesn’t much to enthuse – a hapless loser has to take care of a bunch of kids during a zombie outbreak. Sit past that and this is the funniest zombie comedy since Shaun of the Dead
Long Story Short (2021)
Comedy Where a Man Skips Ahead Through His Life
A light fantasy comedy from Australia in which Rafe Spall finds he is moving ahead through his life one year at a time every few minutes
Long Weekend (1978)
Nature's Revenge
Excellent Australian-made Nature’s Revenge film with a couple on a weekend at a beach at siege from nature. Like the film’s obvious model The Birds, the attack occurs for never-specified reasons
Long Weekend (2008)
Nature's Revenge
Pointless remake of the cult Australian Nature’s Revenge film. This takes place amid some gorgeously shot natural scenery, is very faithful to the first film but seems to entirely miss the paranoid tone
The Loved Ones (2009)
Australian Psycho Prom Date Black Comedy
Australian black comedy about a guy imprisoned to be a girl’s perfect prom date. The film takes to horror with enthusiasm and is owned by two fantastic performances from the women of the show
Loveland (2022)
Cyberpunk Future
Modest and interesting Cyberpunk film that works as a melancholy future-set romance with Ryan Kwanten as a hitman. Minimalist but with some striking conceptual twists
Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010)
Filipino Exploitation Cinema Documentary
A documentary about the US exploitation film industry in the Philippines in the 1970s filled with mind-boggling anecdotes that uncover a wild west of unregulated filmmaking
Mad Bomber in Love (1992)
Psycho Roommate Black Comedy
A rather amusing Australian black comedy made very low key starring Craig Pearce as a mad bomber who makes all of his flatmates prisoner
Mad Max (1979)
Near Future Road Rage
The first of the Mad Max films and a considerable jolt if one comes to it after any of the sequels. This is an altogether different film – a grim and violent road movie more in the vein of Death Wish
Mad Max 2 (1981)
Post-Holocaust Action
A sequel that makes an extraordinary leap over its predecessor. It created an entire genre of films – even its own design and clothing aesthetic – and is one of the most kinetic, exciting action films ever made
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Post-Holocaust Action
The third of the Mad Max films sees the series becoming increasingly more mainstream in focus, along with the conscious resignation that it is impossible to top the previous film
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Post-Holocaust Action
30 years in the making and the results are sensational. An action film so relentlessly foot-to-the-floor and full of kinetic wildness that it blows all its contemporaries away and sets the bar anew
Malibu Shark Attack (2009)
Killer Shark Film
Every B killer shark movie of recent years has tried to become as absurd as possible in (a la Sharknado), but this is one that plays itself seriously and generates okay tension in places
The Man Who Sued God (2001)
Man Sues the Churches Comedy
Australian comedy where Billy Connolly sues God for all the supposed Acts of Gods on insurance forms
The Marsupials: The Howling III (1987)
Australian Werewolves
Third of The Howling films where director Philippe Mora travels to Australia to show us marsupial werewolves. A conceptually wild mix that fails abysmally due to cheap effects and Mora not taking things seriously
Mary and Max (2008)
Claymation/Friendship by Correspondence
Quirky, hilarious Australian claymation film about the mail correspondence between a young girl and a lonely middle-aged man
Me and My Mates vs. the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)
Australian Zombie Comedy/Lads vs Zombies
An Australian zombie comedy. The basic premise sets a bunch of lads and their cheerfully Neanderthal, sexist, beer-drinking, sports loving ways up against the zombie apocalypse
Me Myself I (1999)
Woman's Alternate Life Pathways
An Australian variant on Sliding Doors in which single woman Rachel Griffiths suddenly finds herself in an alternate timeline where she is now married and has kids
Memoir of a Snail (2024)
Claymation/Eccentric Characters
The second Claymation film from Adam Elliot, who made the sublime Mary and Max, concerning the banally hilarious lives of weird, eccentric characters
Monolith (2022)
Mysterious Objects
The title monolith is a cheat, this is however a creepy Australian film about a series of ultra-mysterious objects
El Monstro del Mar! (2010)
Grindhouse Homage/Monster Movie
Australian exploitation homage that is like a collision between Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! and a monster movie. Low-budget but this has an authentic recapturing of the spirit of trash cinema
Mr. Accident (2000)
Gonzo Comedy
The third and final film to date directed, written by and starring Yahoo Serious where he plays an accident prone man obsessed with alien life
Nekrotronic (2018)
Demon Hunters
The second film from the director of Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead about demon hunters. A great deal has been expanded on the creature effects and in building the film’s mythology.
Next of Kin (1982)
Psycho-Thriller
A stylishly directed Australian psycho-thriller about Jackie Kerin who inherits a retirement home and takes it over only to find that someone is killing the seniors
Night of Fear (1972)
Australian Backwoods Brutality
Underrated Australian horror film that prefigures The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in its dialogueless story of a woman attacked and imprisoned by a mad farmer. Directed with considerable all-out effect