‘Beaten To Death’ Review: Disturbing Australian Horror Lives Up To Its Title [Panic Fest 2023]
Australian horror is known for its gore and overall nihilism. Similar to films in the New French Extremity, contemporary Australian horror is marked with a certain kind of meanness where the human body is ripped apart not by the supernatural, but by other human beings. Think of films like Wolf Creek, The Loved Ones, Hounds of Love, and The Nightingale. Sam Curtain is delivering another entry into this particularly disgusting subgenre, aptly titled Beaten To Death. And boy, does that title really say it all. It’s a 90-minute excruciating journey where a man (Thomas Roach) goes through perhaps the worst series of events imaginable. This is extreme horror at its best/worst, depending on where you fall in your enjoyment of the subgenre.
The film opens on a bloody scene where the man, Jack, is being, well, beaten to death by another man (Justan Wagner) while a woman lies face down in the corner. Curtain immediately throws us into the wringer with absolutely no warm-up period. He tells us from the jump that this is not going to be a pleasant experience and he doesn’t want it to be. While Jack is able to barely escape the beating, he discovers the woman, revealed to be his wife (Nicole Tudor), is dead. And this is just the beginning!
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As he runs to find help, he meets neighbor Ned (David Tracy). Thinking he’s found salvation, Jack breathes a sigh of relief. But, this is a movie called Beaten To Death and this is only the beginning. Let’s just say Ned has other plans for our poor, already-pummeled protagonist. It’s the perfect extreme horror twist that digs deep into the horrors that human beings are capable of. Curtain then begins to weave flashbacks with the present to explain how Jack got here, only deepening this tale of misery and the series of poor decisions that brought Jack to this fate.
Splitting the timelines is a smart way to help pad a runtime that’s dominated by one man crawling through the Australian Outback while bleeding out and screaming in pain. However, this split does muddle the story a bit despite their attempts to provide more context. It slows the pacing of a film that, while short, could benefit from a shorter runtime. And that’s not just because watching one man endure essentially non-stop mental and physical torture for that long is an endurance test. The violence and suffering become repetitive and lose their impact, making parts of Beaten To Death drag.
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But no matter what’s happening to him, Roach is giving it his all. And as he’s on screen for almost the entire runtime, acting in this film seems to be its own kind of torture. Roach is constantly screaming, whimpering, pleading, and acting through enduring the worst pain imaginable, which is no small feat. It’s an incredible performance and you almost feel bad for Roach as much as you respect his dedication to playing a man who has been, in fact, beaten to death.
Curtain and co-writer Benjamin Jung-Clarke truly deliver a piece of disturbing extreme horror. Fans of the subgenre will be pleased with the abjection and nihilism on display, but if gore isn’t your thing, you won’t get much out of Beaten To Death. Ultimately, the film delivers on its title’s promise and gives you a non-stop nightmare where skin is ripped, bone is snapped, and spirits are broken.
Beaten To Death will be released later this year by Welcome Villain Films.
Summary
‘Beaten To Death’ delivers on its title’s promise and gives you a non-stop nightmare where skin is ripped, bone is snapped, and spirits are broken.
