Locusts

From the moment city slicker Ryan Black (Ben Geurens) sets foot in Serenity Crossing, it's obvious he's not going to enjoy his stay. Returning to his remote home town for the first time in 20 years for the funeral of his detested dad, Ryan discovers he has 48 hours to raise $100,000 or his ne'er-do-well brother (Nathaniel Dean) will pay for the sins of their father. Anyone familiar with the Ozploitation genre will know that the outback is a hotbed of twisted notions and seething resentments, and first-time screenwriter Angus Watts piles on the clichés and caricatures. Director Heath Davis does his best to pay homage to Ted Kotcheff's Wake in Fright (1971), with production designer Carlo Crescini and cinematographer Chris Bland combining to make the old mining berg look bleakly run down. Amidst the boorish posturing, Jessica McNamee steals the limelight as a stripping single mum who comes up with a potential solution to Ryan's problems - robbing a club to pay off the debt-cum-ransom.