Ever since I was a teenager, the only horror films that I consumed were predominately from America. It wasn’t because I had something against Australian horror films, there just weren’t many that I was aware of. It wasn’t until the release of Wolf Creek in 2005 with the incredibly terrifying John Jarrett as serial killer Mick that I even knew horror movies were made in Australia, or even based on Australian characters and stories.

From what I understand, Australia hasn’t had a deep relationship with horror movies like other countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. There was a small period where the odd thriller was produced, such as Fisher’s Ghost (1924)⸺the story of Australia’s most famous apparition. Eventually, a period of censorship started in Australia, refusal of classification of horror films was a direct response to the establishment of the Commonwealth Film Censorship Board in 1917 and from 1948 banned all horror movies. Horror was seen as abhorrent by the Australian Chief Censor of the Film Censorship Board, J.O. Alexander, who had said that horror movies offered:

“no cultural or entertainment value and its appeal extends only to a very limited section of the community, a section whose mental outlook should not be fed with films of this nature.” (letter dated 22/04/1948).

In the 60s’ the legislation that allowed the ban to be upheld (Customs Act 1917) was questioned and attitudes towards the horror genre shifted. There aren’t many notes about what was the catalyst for this shift, perhaps Australian filmmakers engaging more with the genre and the release of Australian horror films such as Wake in Fright (1971) under the guise of being a psychological thriller. Although Australian horror films had cropped up, the censorship of international releases continued to be halted at the border. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was banned in Australia until 1984, being refused classification on a number of occasions (Heller-Nicolas & Brandum, 2014). It’s no wonder that it took a considerable amount of time for it to be considered ‘appropriate’ for Australian filmmakers to voyage into the horror genre.

Throughout its revival in the 1970s’ horror movies in Australia took precedence and few made it to the international screen, including Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and The Cars That Ate Paris (1974)⸺the first horror film funded by the Australian Film Development Corporation (Hood, n.d.). What followed this decade of filmmaking was a period that navigated all subgenres of horror; my favourite certainly being the 90s’ body horror classic Body Melt (1993).

Horror moves in the modern era of cinema in Australia have taken a route to show the desolate nature of the Australian outback. Wolf Creek (2005) terrified me because we all knew the real-life events that the film was based on. Those crimes shook our nation to the core. Through showing how isolating and ongoing landscapes that feel inescapable:

“Australian horror films accentuate the rawness of nature, creating a sense of vastness, of space, which is somehow shrouded by an unnerving sense of isolation.” (Culley, 2020)

Whilst Australian horror films like Wolf Creek (2015), The Nightingale (2018) and Roadgames (1981) accentuate the themes of isolation and the harshness of nature, there are horror movies that explore the social justice issues within the Australian social sphere. The supernatural horror Relic (2018) explores how Australian families and the elderly are alienated by the taboo topic of ageing and their relationships with aged care. Whilst The Babadook (2014) reveals the thinly veiled and abhorrent perception of women and mental health in our society.

References:

Culley, N. (2020, November 20). The Isolation at the Heart of Australian Horror. Kill Your Darlings. https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/article/the-isolation-at-the-heart-of-australian-horror/

Heller-Nicholas, A., & Brandum, D. (2014, June 11). Censorship and chainsaw massacres. Overland Literary Journal. https://overland.org.au/2014/06/censorship-and-chainsaw-massacres/

Hood, R. (n.d.). Killer Koalas: Australian (and New Zealand) Horror Films. Tabula Rasa. https://www.tabula-rasa.info/AusHorror/OzHorrorFilms1.html

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. (n.d.). Horror in Australian Cinema. https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/survey-australian-horror-films-1970s-saw-and-babadook

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