Review of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) by Chris W — 23 Sep 2007

Picnic at Hanging Rock is the scariest non-horror movie I've ever seen. I watched this one night while I was home alone and seriously had to turn the lights on. Something about it creeped me out. This film is from Peter Weir, the director of Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show, but it is much different than either of those. Picnic is one of the greatest films I've ever seen at setting a tone and sticking to it: that tone being soft, slightly creepy, and very mysterious. The whole film is very ambigious, which is a strength. Any definitive answers and the movie would have been ruined. All in all, I'm having a difficult time explaining what about this movie I liked so well. You'll just have to see it for yourself to understand its greatness.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the cinematography was excellent. The sets were beautiful, as were the many unorthodox camera shots. Also great was Weir's ability to cut the soft mood with a sudden jolt of unexpected enery as he does at a few instances throughout the film. Please do give this film a try; It's incredible.