ROAD TRAIN

Australia, 2010, 86 minutes, Colour.
Xavier Samuel, Sophie Lowe, Bob Morley, David Argue.
Directed by Dean Francis.

Probably a good idea for an outback Australian horror thriller with ‘supernatural’ touches, but this is something of a derivative show (Duel, Wolf Creek, Highway to Hell…) for straight to DVD and group home watching, the audience egging each other one as it progresses (or regresses) and the ludicrous aspects loom larger. Of course, for this type of film, in the recent slasher thrillers vein, it doesn’t really matter if it is ridiculous.

Two couples are out camping (and the explicit sex scene is in the first five minutes) in beautiful, isolated South Australia. The cast is strong enough to make them a bit more than the cyphers and victims they really are. A Duel-like road train, with a three heads of Cerberus on the front, crashes into them and one by one, they become the victims of the mysterious road train. This can sometimes be bloody and gory. And that’s about it.

1. A road movie, horror? The target audience?

2. Derivative – road films, Duel, Highway to Hell?

3. The South Australian locations, the outback, beauty, grandeur, isolated?

4. The two couples, camping, the relationships, the sexual relationship between Gina and Craig, not between Liz and Marcus? The tension? The banter, the characters, playfulness?

5. Driving, the road train and their admiration, crashing into the car, Craig hurt, the others not hurt? Liz and the urging to overtake, the consequences? Waiting by the truck, going to find help? Tending Craig?

6. The group upset, the puzzle, Nina staying, her relying on the guidebook? Liz wanting to find the shack? The clash with Marcus? The water for survival? Liz finding the house, empty, the cans to drink from? Surviving?

7. Marcus, the man with the gun, along the highway, chasing Marcus, hiding under the bridge, the struggle, the shooting, Marcus returning in his clothes? Their killing him?

8. Craig and his injuries, mystery, possessed, getting Liz to trust him, her death, trying to get Nina to trust him?

9. Nina, running away, confrontation with Craig, shooting him?

10. The trailer, the truck and the repeat? The accident, the clothes, the survivors?

11. Nina, her pursuit of the road train, the cycle beginning again?

12. The symbolism of Cerberus, the three-headed dog coming alive – indications of the supernatural and Hell?