Hounds of Love (2017)

Running Time: 1hr 48min

Release Date: May 12, 2017 (VOD/limited)

Written/Directed by: Ben Young

Review by: Stacey

Shit, between movies like In Her Skin, Wolf Creek, Snowtown Murders, and now Ben Young's debut, Hounds of Love, I don't think I'll ever get my ass to Australia anytime soon.  I hadn't even heard of this little piece of cinema until last week when I saw a trailer for it and as a lover of all things rooted in true crime, I knew Hounds had to be up my alley.  Apparently it's gotten positive feedback on the festival circuit and it's not hard to see why.

Set in the 80's in Perth, Australia, the film follows serial killers John (Stephen Curry) and Evelyn (Emma Booth) White who abduct teenager Vicki Maloney (Ashleigh Cummings) while on her way to a party.  She quickly realizes that she must use her captors' tumultuous relationship to her advantage if she wants to survive.

I was getting some serious David and Catherine Birnie/Fred and Rosemary West/Cameron Hooker vibes from the flick's story- if Young didn't pull any inspiration from these cases, I'd be shocked.  Again, with my true crime fascination, the movie definitely tugged at my "getting abducted by a deranged couple for sex stuff" fear.

Despite the movie having graphic content, it wasn't really....graphic?  A lot of the heavy stuff seems to take place off camera and behind closed doors.  Now normally I'd dislike this because y'know, morbid curiosity and all, but it worked to this film's advantage because you quickly find out Hounds is super story-driven and the actual brutal acts of the couple weren't the main focus of the film (at least in my opinion).

I'm probably going to keep this one relatively short just because it's pretty new and I don't want to spoil anything, but there were some drawbacks to the film that hindered me from giving this a straight 5/5 rating.  While I give praise to the actual acting in the film (everyone gave off believable performances), I found it hard to form any connection with the characters.  Ok, I know I'm not supposed to really connect with the bad guys, but I found myself not REALLY caring about the outcome of anyone's fates.

The ending was pretty predictable but also frustrating because I felt like there wasn't as much resolution to the story as I was hoping for.  While I enjoyed the movie immensely and would actually highly recommend it (probably for the more thriller/slow-paced fan), I guess I was just left wanting a bit more than I was given.

3/5

Out on VOD now!

Check out the trailer: