Noni Hazlehurst

Film Review: Sting is a little Evil Dead, a little Arachnophobia, and a lot of gooey practical effects

Given the ambition he showed with his Mad Max-meets-Dawn of the Dead B-grade genre piece Wyrmwood (and its respective sequel), it makes sense that Australian director Kiah Roache-Turner would continue his genre mash-ups for his follow-up.  What proves surprising, however, is that for Sting, an ode to the creature feature (and, fittingly, Australia’s fear of…

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Sting is an enjoyably camp horror effort that backs its gross effects with some emotional heft: Gold Coast Film Festival Review

Given the ambition he showed with his Mad Max-meets-Dawn of the Dead B-grade genre piece Wyrmwood (and its respective sequel), it makes sense that Australian director Kiah Roache-Turner would continue his genre mash-ups for his follow-up.  What proves surprising, however, is that for Sting, an ode to the creature feature (and, fittingly, Australia’s fear of…

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Film Review: Long Story Short expresses the importance of time and relationships without resorting to emotional manipulation

The tried and true formula of the “time loop” sub-genre in film has been adopted many a time; the Happy Death Day films, Edge of Tomorrow, the recent Palm Springs, and the seminal Groundhog Day being arguably the prototype for such offerings.  For Long Story Short, the sophomore effort from Australian writer/director/actor Josh Lawson (The…

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Film Review: Ladies In Black (Australia, 2018) is about Fifties shop girls and is like the entrée before the main

Ladies in Black could have been named “Shopgirl”, but that title was already taken. The film, set over the summer of 1959 in a Department store like David Jones, is a gentle story about some Australian women who are standing on the precipice of change; but often feels like the entrée before the main. This…

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Interview: The cast of Ladies in Black describe the joy of making this true-blue Australian story

Bruce Beresford’s new film, Ladies in Black is a charming look at some department store shop girls working in Sydney in 1959. The story is adapted from a novel by the late, Madeleine St John who attended university with Clive James and the famous director. The film was a labour of love that was some…

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