LOST THINGS

TUESDAY 28 OCTOBER AT 9:40PM UGC SHAFTESBURY AVE SCREEN 1

Country Australia Running Time 83 mins Format 35mm Dir Martin Murphy Prod Ian Iveson S'play Stephen Sewell DoP Justine Kerrigan Cast Leon Ford, Lenka Kripac, Steve Le Marquand, Charlie Garber, Alex Vaughan Print Source Cinemavault E nickjensen@cinemavault.com

Lost Things is a brilliant example of how a film can be made using five actors, a van and a beach. The idea came about when Murphy and writer Stephen Sewell visited a remote beach that reputedly was the scene of a triple murder years earlier. From this, the premise of Lost Things was established: what happens to those people who disappeared? Sewell has introduced a few variables into the standard teen peril horror story. He uses repetitive speech patterns, and writes exactly as teens talk, giving this film a rare degree of authenticity, despite its familiar basis.

Four sixteen-year-old virgins lie to their parents and set out for a weekend together. The boys hope for a weekend of sex and surfing, in that order, while the girls are less committed. They reach an isolated beach - apparently an idyllic hideaway. Things soon start to go wrong, however, as they remember that the beach was the scene of a real life rape and murder case.

Enter Zippo (Le Marquand), a self-styled beach bum, who starts paying too much attention to the girls for the boys' liking. Night falls, and with it creepy incident after creepy incident. Director Murphy starts a slow burning fuse of tension and overwhelming sense of doom. The squeaky clean actors are well cast, and Le Marquand is very convincing as the knife wielding stranger. EG

Martin Murphy has made several shorts which have played at international festivals, written 4 screenplays and performed stand-up comedy in Sydney. This is his feature debut.