Review of Coffin Rock (2009) by Matthew O — 10 Jul 2012

Be careful for what you wish for'.

Produced by the guys who brought the popular 'Wolf Creek'. Coffin Rock is an altogether different kind of beast.

The film follows a small fishing community and a couple who are despite to conceive a child, one drunken night the female lead (Jessie) sleeps with a young stranger. This is no run of the mill thriller as the 'from the producers of wolf creek' should give away.

The young Irish stranger has a few screws loose, which is illustrated earlier with a rather nasty killing of a young kangaroo, in one of the boys various 'I am mental episodes' the film makers throw at the viewer, to keep reminding you he is mad and in an attempt to rack up the tension.

The idea of the couple trying to conceive and the problems it is causing, including a sub plot of a fellow worker causing trouble is interesting, and it could have made an interesting thriller, but the director bottles it and decides to just go for shock value to many times rather than tension.

There are some good scenes of the crazy lead, a scene of the boy blowing on a window and drawing a heart shape to a scared Jessie is a nice touch, and the acting is fine, but the predictable over the top climax is just a disappointment.

The film had a great idea, and if it had just held its bottle and got a bit leaner, then Coffin Rock would have been a much more of a surprise.