From Australia, an extreme version of man vs. nature. It centers on a couple whose relationship is disintegrating for reasons revealed over the runtime. They decide to spend the weekend camping in the woods by a beach. They are aggressively passive with each other and take out their frustrations and anger on the local wildlife, including running over a kangaroo and stealing an eagle’s egg. …Nature fights back.
The film benefits from a very aggressive sound mix. Animals give a terrible shriek when they are killed, including when the woman kills ants with bug spray. This ties in with the root of their personal troubles, giving the silly premise some gravity. The attacks don’t unite the couple, but drive them further apart, while the natural beauty of the wilderness brims with the tension of inescapable doom. Then there’s the Zombie Manatee.
Early on, the guy shoots a dark shape in the water, thinking it might be a shark. The next morning a dead manatee washes up on the beach. Only it’s not fully dead. We never see it move and it never makes noise, but every time we return to it, it’s moved closer to the camp. They repeatedly put it out of its misery, but it keeps getting closer. An unwavering force, you believe they could drive away and years later it would show up on their front lawn.
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