Terror Down Under: Part 7
Article by Bindi Lavelle

With the current wave of Australian horror gaining much attention it is easy to forget that the genre is nothing new in Australian cinema. As seen in earlier articles, Australian genre films have been ever present, however often take a back seat to the critically acclaimed ( and hence better funded) high art films, Many Aussie exports used horror films (especial during the new wave period) to hone their skills, without doing so it is doubtful they could have made such strong contributions to film.
Peter Weir is a fine example of an Aussie film maker who refined his craft through horror early in his career which served him better for his later films like The Truman Show and Master And Commander.
Weir's debut feature, The Cars That Ate Paris (also released as The Cars That Eat People) showed a grim side of a small country town in which all the inhabitants either cause car accidents or profit from the crashes both directly and indirectly. The film maintains a constant sense of unease, much like Weir's follow up, the modern classic Picnic At Hanging Rock.

Hanging Rock, adapted from the Joan Lindsay novel of the same name, is considered an icon of Australian New Wave Cinema; the historical thriller centering around the mysterious disappearances of boarding school girls in 1900, exemplifies the clean flowing imagery of Australian high art film, while at the same time using the landscape as the an enemy like many Aussie horror films. Weir also uses the contrast of bus and urban in his thrillers The Last Wave and Witness.
Director Richard Franklin, however stayed mostly in the horror/ thriller genre throughout his career while still expanding his form in other genres at the same time. His horror work explore similar themes of suspicion and confinement.
Frankilins' film Patric, the story of a telekinetic coma patient is nothing short of a tight claustrophobic narrative; as the title character is in a come, the film relies heavily on mood to create suspense for the viewer. This was followed by Road games (starring Jamie Lee Curtis who he met via fellow graduate of University of Southern California, John Carpenter), a slasher flick on the road showing many qualities of Patric but in a fast paced environment. And Franklin's final feature, Visitors tells the story of a young woman on a solo yacht trip who experiences cabin fever suffering scary delusions, which may in fact be real.

These two directors along side others mentioned previously such as Geoffrey Wright, Ales Proyas, Rolf de Heer and George Miller, like other non Aussie film makers have used horror as a stepping stone in their career. This practice has instilled a healthy and strong frame work for Australian horror (as well as genre film in general) to grow and develop further.