HORROR MOVIE: Jim Schembri interviews Aussie director Luke Sparke

HORROR MOVIE: With ‘Red Billabong’, director Luke Sparke aims to give Aussie cinema what it’s always needed: its own mythical beast. Well done – but will anybody see it?

Though we might not have as many as we deserve, Australian cinema has given us some impressive beasts. Razorback gave us an over-sized feral pig; Welcome to Woop Woop showed us a giant kangaroo; Bait 3D, monster sharks.

With the independent creature feature Red Billabong, however, writer/director wanted to draw on myths to create something truly unique to scare a bunch of young people stuck in the bush.

Hello there: A cast member confronts the film’s main character.

As a child of the 1980s, Spark’s cinematic influences are plugged into the exploitation films of the 1970s and 80s. His desire here, with his dedicated cast and crew, was to deliver an audience-pleasing monster movie laced with laughs and scares.

The film has been doing well on the festival circuit for a while and, says Sparke, it has sold to some major movie territories across Asia, with hopes high for an American sale.

Yet the film has had trouble getting much mainstream traction, says Sparke, with distributors reluctant to touch it because it’s Australian.

In this interview, he discusses the making of the film, his influences and the effort to bring the movie to its home market.

For a review of the film click here: http://tinyurl.com/jv7h6bg

 

Click play for the Luke Sparke interview

 

Click play to view a trailer for Red Billabong