Savages Crossing Movie Review 304

Savages Crossing is a 2011 Australian thriller directed by Kevin James Dobson and starring John Jarratt(Wolf Creek), Craig McLachlan, Chris Haywood and Jessica Napier.

The Wonga River Roadhouse is the setting for this movie and it revolves around a man called Phil(Jarratt) who is released from prison. His wife and son leave the house the moment they hear that he has been released so we know that he is not a good guy. They are driving along when a huge storm hits and they have to stop at the roadhouse. Kate(Napier) is the waitress there and Mory(McLachlan) owns it. He drives a truck and tends his livestock. He meets Phil who has followed his wife Sue(Angela Punch McGregor) and son Damian. Phil gets his car caught in the storm at Savages Crossing and he can't get out. Mory saves him and brings him to the roadhouse where two girls, Shae and Mickey have stopped for shelter also.

Sue has hired a guy to kill Phil and he turns up at the roadhouse too. As Phil is confronting his wife about the money he had etc the guy catches him but Phil manages to escape and a cat and mouse chase  begins and ends with Phil shooting the guy and making his way back to the roadhouse. Mory and the others are horrified when he threatens them with a gun. His wife and son are gone and he goes mad. In fact, they are hiding in the barn. He warns everyone that if they are hiding his wife and son, he will hurt them. He takes Kate and he ties her to a tree in the river to drown. Mory tackles him and brings him down. He goes to save Kate.Phil comes back into the roadhouse and tells everyone that he is worth more dead to his wife than alive. Phil threatens Sue and Damian and Mory knocks him out and locks him into a room. Damian goes into the room and he drowns his father. Mory sees Phil dead and realises that they have killed him but Sue remarks that it was an accident and he couldn't prove that Damian killed his father. Mory realises that Sue was not as innocent as she seemed...

This was an interesting thriller and I liked it. It was tense and the acting wasn't bad. I think that it is low budget but good fun all the same. If you like Australian movies, then this won't disappoint. I give it a 5/10.