Roadkill – Review

As always, I’ll try and make this review as non spoilery as possible. This one might have a few small “spoilers” though.

The film follows Connor Shelby (Alexander Whitrow) who spends his days waiting on isolated outback roads for unsuspecting travellers to rob. He’s a modern day Dick Turpin, trying to make enough money to build a better life for his girlfriend Lucy (Sarah Milde).

He robs people in as nice a way as possible when holding them up with a gun. He doesn’t leave them stranded, he drops all their stuff 1km up the road (why he doesn’t tell them he only accepts cash payments is unexplained).

Unbeknownst to him there is also a serial killer with a biblical slant plying his trade, going from place to place killing the “sinful”. Police detectives are on the hunt.

When Connor holds up two lads who decide to fight back, one of them ends up shot so his mate goes to the police. Something I can only assume none of his other robbery victims have done? Is it a thing in Australia that nobody goes to the police? On Home & Away nobody ever goes to the cops first either!

Anyway, the cops are now aware of Connor as well as the serial killer, and begin to think there may be a link.

As luck would have it, Lucy’s uncle just happens to be the detective in charge of the investigation.

This leads to one of the most unnecessarily tense family meals I’ve ever seen committed to film.

The uncle’s now suspicious and let’s be honest he probably wouldn’t have been if Connor was less weird. So now Connor’s on the police radar.

Connor also tries to rob the serial killer (obviously he doesn’t know it’s the serial killer) and the serial killer knows his name. Which I found strange, as did Connor. The robbery is interrupted.

Lucy finds out what Connor’s been up to and they have an argument and he leaves and has a run in with the cops.

When the killer claims his next victim – Connor’s life is about to change forever.

So, to avoid spoilers that’s about it. What’s good , bad and ugly with this film then?

The Good:

There’s some striking visuals throughout, there’s not much going on visually in the outback but the film really portrays that vast, open space people travel to get to the next bit of civilisation. Clever use of colour grading to make it more arid, almost makes you thirsty just watching.

The serial killer is revealed pretty early on and the pursuit of a dad and lad combo is really quite nicely done. Not knowing how tourism works in the area it feels a little bit strange at one point, but that’s a small issue.

Whitrow and Milde make a convincing couple and their performances are solid.

The Bad:

There’s parts that make little sense. As mentioned, Connor is unnecessarily angry and weird at times and the police are so bad I wondered if the town was called Keystone.

There’s a scene where Connor meets the detective and he tells him he’s so self conscious when I’m sure it should have been self righteous, again Connor is being overly aggressive here which doesn’t suit the character even if he is a highwayman, he’s a nice one.

Edward Boyd as the killer just didn’t do it for me. It felt like they were going for a Mick Taylor vibe but didn’t quite get it right. It had the religious undertone thing which was never fully leant into. If this angle had been pushed more it would have made the serial killer more interesting, as he was I almost forgot about him and didn’t feel like he offered any real threat. Some of the scenes with the lad and dad hinted at how menacing he could have been. It also felt like the cops should have found him in the first five minutes of looking for him.

The score is great but it’s too loud in some scenes and a bit of silence might have been more appropriate.

The Ugly:

What’s with all the damn flies! At one point I wondered if they were cgi. The only person who ever seems to be bothered by them is the kid. Everyone else has them crawling all over them without batting an eyelid. If that’s Outback life then no wonder Connor wants to get out of there asap!

Count the flies on his jacket there!

Overall this is a decent film and when you consider that Alexander Whitrow wrote, directed and stars in it then you can easily forgive the minor gripes.

To get a film of this quality made, essentially by yourself is absolutely something to be celebrated.

Some genuinely well crafted scenes, that give a glimpse of what this guy could do with a bigger budget. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for his future output.

Generally good performances from the cast

For a strikingly shot, atmospheric Aussie outback thriller, get Roadkill.

Arrives on UK digital on 29 May 2023, courtesy of Reel 2 Reel films.