DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by Jody Dwyer
Starring Leigh Whannell, Nathan Phillips
Release date Out now (region 1); 28th September 2009 (region 2)

On a search to prove the Tasmanian Tiger still exists, Nina and her friends find much more than they bargained for…

Dying Breed is the first feature film by Australian writer/director Jody Dwyer, and he’s chosen the horror staple of two couples facing ‘something in the woods’. Although there are some good ideas, the movie fails to live up to expectations.

The film starts in the 18th century, with an escaped convict, cannibal Alexander Pearce (aka The Pieman), running from his soldier guards. Having bitten the throat out of a tracker dog and one of the hapless pursuers, Pearce falls into the river far below.

We then move to the present day, where zoology student Nina (Mirrah Foulkes) is on a quest to find the supposedly long-extinct Tasmanian Tiger in – where else? – the wilds of Tasmania; her search fired by a photo of a pawprint sent by her late sister, who drowned in the self-same wilderness eight years before.

Nina is accompanied by her boyfriend, Matt (Leigh Whannell, of Saw fame), his annoying friend Jack (Nathan Phillips, Wolf Creek) and his girlfriend Rebecca (Melana Vallejo) as they travel through the forest to the ‘village’ where her sister was last seen. This proves to be no more than a few shacks, peopled by the ubiquitous ‘inbreeds’ that horror fans will be more than familiar with, who seem to have a strange affection for the history of the Pieman.

Moving on by boat, across the lake and into the woods, the search proper begins – and people start to die. The antecedents of the ‘villagers’ are revealed as the group slowly dwindles, and Nina’s sister’s true fate is revealed.

It is clear that there is the basis for a gripping horror movie here, but the pacing is patchy and ultimately there just isn’t enough of a story to justify its length. Dying Breed relies on the gross-out factor rather than any sense of genuine creepiness or mystery, and though the cast do their best, the viewer is left wondering what the point of the film is. It reminded me very much of the ‘Countrycide’ episode of Torchwood that dealt with the same subject matter, but in a much better way.

Extras consist of a trailer for the film. Marie O’Regan

VERDICT: 3/10
Definitely a case of the director biting off more than he can chew.