Fresh from successful film festival screenings around the world, the Queensland-made horror feature 'Throwback' is set to have its Brisbane premiere this January.
A tale of two treasure hunters, a female park ranger and an unhinged ex-cop who encounter a Yowie (Australia's Bigfoot) in the jungles of northern Queensland, 'Throwback' is a homage to classic creature features and pulp adventure thrillers. Starring Vernon Wells ('Mad Max 2' and 'Commando'), 'Throwback' was shot on a minimal budget of $4,000 yet it has been screened at 10 international film festivals in the UK and the US. 'Throwback' has also won awards including Best Foreign Feature (at the Famous Monsters Film Festival, California) and Best Feature (at the Tri-Cities International Fantastic Film Festival, Washington state).
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Filmed entirely around Cairns, writer/director Travis Bain says he is elated to see the film finally unleashed upon Brisbane. “I lived in Brisbane for 10 years from the late 1990s onwards and learned my filmmaking craft there, so this feels like a bit of a homecoming for me.”
These are Travis Bain's top 5 creature features:
One Million Years B.C. (1966)
No list of my favourite creature features would be complete without at least one Ray Harryhyausen entry. While I love all of his movies, I especially have a soft spot for his dinosaur films, and 'One Million Years B.C.' is possibly his best because of the wide array of different species he brought to life. The storyline and characters are silly but the effects are just brilliant, and as always, Ray's seamless, pre-CG blending of live-action and stop-motion is a marvel to behold. Plus Raquel Welch in a fur bikini is pretty easy to take.{youtube}gSYmJur0Npw{/youtube}
King Kong
Some people prefer the 1933 original, some prefer the Peter Jackson remake, and almost everyone hates the 1976 version, but I love all three of them. I'll defend the De Laurentiis version till I'm blue in the face. There's so much to love about it: John Barry's sweeping score, Rick Baker's great costume, the ominous sense of foreboding and Charles Grodin chewing the hell out of the glorious Hawaiian scenery.
Razorback (1984)
I remember seeing a preview of 'Razorback' on 'Hey Hey It's Saturday' back in 1984, and even though they were mercilessly lampooning it, I was spellbound by its imagery, and I still am. Visually, Russell Mulcahy's film is one of the most sumptuous-looking creature features ever made, even if the giant pig isn't always entirely convincing. Bill Kerr is wonderful as the grizzled farmer out for vengeance, but David Argue as Dicko almost walks off with the movie. I borrowed one of his classic lines to use in 'Throwback' as an homage.{youtube}f-WKSnSagMg{/youtube}
Jaws 2 (1978)
There's no doubt the original is a bona fide classic, but the sequel doesn't get enough love, in my opinion. Its detractors say it's just a "rehash" or a "cash-in", but it's actually a fairly dark, edgy film. It's arguably a more muscular film than Spielberg's, more kinetic and visceral, and you actually care about the teenagers in peril because Jeannot Szwarc takes the time and care to develop them before the mayhem begins. Some of the shark attacks are quite horrifying.{youtube}96wk9ok0dbw{/youtube}
Day of the Animals (1977)
The quintessential "when animals attack" film. Beautiful widescreen cinematography, a creepy apocalyptic mood and tight direction by the late William Girdler, who could've gone on to become a major Hollywood director if he hadn't been killed in a tragic helicopter accident. There are some incredible how-the-hell-did-they-do-that shots in this film, like when a pack of dogs attacks several characters on a raft floating down a river. You watch it and you can't quite believe you're actually seeing it. And in what other movie can you see Leslie Nielsen play a crazed rapist going psycho on a grizzly bear?{youtube}G27f1pd4SfE{/youtube}
'Throwback' screens at the New Globe Theatre on 21 January. The film will also be released on DVD in 2015.
