Aussie horror I feel is a bit underappreciated. There’s typically a charm with a bit of grime when it comes to their villains. Wolf Creek and its lead antagonist Mick is a perfect example. He’s an evil character, but he still manages to be likeable. Another example of this is in last year’s serial-killer-shark film, Dangerous Animals, the villain was once again despicable but still was fun to watch. Another thing I’ve noticed when it comes to Aussie horror: it tends to have a dirty look to it that reminds me of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where you can almost feel the heat and the dust coming through the screen, and the films also tend to have their characters very isolated from civilization. Penny Lane Is Dead checks off many of the boxes that I like in Aussie horror, and what I find frustrating with it is how close it comes to being great. It’s time to stroll down the dark and desolate road in the outback and do a post mortem on Penny Lane is Dead.
The film takes place in 1986, and Penny Lane (Bailey Spalding) is about to celebrate going away to college with a couple of her closest friends at a remote beach house that her family owns. Along with her on the celebration is Amy (Alexandra Jensen) and Toni (Tahlee Fereday), Penny’s girlfriend. Penny is pretty much the girl who all the boys in town adore and most of the girls are jealous of, and we see a good bit of this jealousy from her cousin, Kat (Sophia Wright-Mendelsohn), who shows up to the party uninvited. Kat is a party girl and has some deep-seated jealousy towards Penny to the point that Kat drugs a cupcake that she made for Penny. It’s not long before Penny goes unconscious, and things take a turn for the worse when Kat’s boyfriend, Angus (Ben O’Tool) arrives at the party with some of his shady friends. This is where the film takes a turn and becomes a bit of the Outback version of The Last House on the Left … well, at least a very tame version of it.
The film doesn’t overcomplicate itself. If you’ve seen a rape revenge film, you basically know where this is going. My biggest gripe is how restrained this film is. It wants to have these vile characters doing some repulsive things, yet it flinches. The assault is tame, and though the filmmakers want us to think these characters are so vile and deranged while coked out of their minds, really they just come off as cartoonish. They are really trying to make Angus and his crew seem like Rob Zombie’s Firefly family, but they just completely miss the mark. Another frustrating aspect of this is that there are many references to Angus’s father being this mysterious yet dangerous individual, but it absolutely goes nowhere. If he showed up in the third act for the girls to have to fight, it could have been a good payoff, but that doesn’t happen.
The last thirty minutes of the film I’ll admit was starting to win me over. The violence gets ramped up, and the makeup FX really sell some of the carnage. Just as I was hoping this film was going to win me back over, it delivers one of the most infuriating, stupid endings I’ve seen in years. It’s like the studio gave them notes at the last minute to have them tack on an ending you’d see in a rom-com rather than a gritty horror film. It is so jarring I nearly threw the TV controller at the screen. I understand subverting expectations when you are following the formula of certain genres and wanting to shock the audience, but this is not the way to go.
Mia Kate Russell is the writer and the director of the film, and there are moments in this film that work really well. Her background in hair and makeup definitely seem to be on display here. I like how each of the characters did have their own distinct look, and I appreciate how many of the kills are well grounded while being gruesome. Still, the mistakes in this film seem to come from her not wanting to commit to the violence. I mean, she wrote the rape revenge script … the reason why films like The Last House on the Left or The Devil’s Rejects work is because they make the audience feel uncomfortable, but it also makes the payoff of the villains getting their comeuppance all the sweeter. There are glimpses of how good this film could have been sprinkled throughout. Maybe there is an alternative cut where this film ramps up the carnage and delivers a better ending, but alas, this is what we are stuck with. This is the kind of film I’d show someone before introducing them to harder films to endure like Straw Dogs or I Spit on Your Grave or even Funny Games, because let’s face it, those are not for the casual horror viewer.
Penny Lane is Dead is now streaming on Shudder.
