Screened as part of NZIFF 2009

The Horseman 2008

Directed by Steven Kastrissios

Sent a horrifying pornographic video featuring his recently deceased daughter, a grieving father swears retribution. “A very badass REVENGE flick.” — Harry Knowles, Ain’t It Cool News

95 minutes DigiBeta

Director, Screenplay, Editor

Producers

Steven Kastrissios
,
Rebecca Dakin

Photography

Mark Broadbent

Art director

Amanda Broomhall

Music

Ryan Potter

With

Peter Marshall (Christian)
,
Caroline Marohasy (Alice)
,
Brad McMurray (Derek)
,
Jack Henry (Finn)
,
Christopher Sommers (Pauly)
,
Steven Tandy (Devlin)
,
Evert McQueen (Jim)
,
Bryan Proberts (Walters)
,
Chris Betts (Hilton)
,
Hannah Levien (Jesse)

Festivals

Melbourne 2008; SXSW 2009

Elsewhere

This raw and relentless lo-fi thriller trades star power and big-budget superficiality for gritty realism and ferocious performances and joins the pantheon of brutal revenge pics such as Straw Dogs and Last House on the Left, films which refused to sanitise the ugly reality of their gruelling subject matter. The film sets up the thrust of its narrative right from the jaw-dropping start. A father has found out that his runaway daughter has died of an overdose and he wants some answers. Discovering that she had been abused in some filthy homemade porno, his rage becomes white hot, and his sole purpose to rid the world of every scumbag involved. Things become complicated when an innocent female hitchhiker unexpectedly joins his mission of hellish retribution. The gifted young director Steven Kastrissios has created a hybrid road movie that careens from thriller to all-out horror. Warning: not for the squeamish. — AT