UK Premiere

Short Synopsis:

The serenity of another quiet evening is shattered for an amateur photographer when a desperate woman takes refuge in his humble suburban home. Reluctantly, he is pulled into a cat and mouse game with her pursuers.  Only dawn will reveal the blood-soaked fallout of being alone in the middle of suburbia.

Review:

In a remote cul-de-sac in suburban Australia Richard awakes to discover a girl, Sam hiding in his closet. She is shaken and injured. He tends to her then insists she leaves. As he escorts her to the door, a pick-up truck pulls up, terrifying Sam, and Richard brings her back indoors. The pick-up contains three men intent on ‘speaking’ to Sam. While they await the arrival of a fourth member, Eddie, Richard calls an old family friend, an ex-cop to help get rid them. The confrontation turns bloody and Richard now must find another way to save the girl and himself.

This Australian horror-thriller is a great example of how to create tension and terror without resorting to too many genre clichés. The director, Sam Barrett paces the whole ride well and gives the audience the chance to piece the preceding events together with fleeting glances at the inciting incident.

The characters are well realised and the performances very strong so that things happen to people rather than hastily drawn stereotypes. The mix of dark humour, personal revelation and out and out remorseless violence give an uneasy but compelling ride, like the ones at the fairground that take you to the edge of throwing up but make you want to get back on it again.

No Through Road is like an Aussie style Straw Dogs and Assault on Precinct 13 or one of those great High Noon style westerns that pit a man against his own weakness and a hungry pack of psychotic man-dogs or, in this case, dingos.

CT