Hounds of Love
Australia 2016
Written by Ben Young
Directed by Ben Young
Watched on 25.09.2017

“Hounds of Love” is a pretty grim tale with a couple of truly harrowing moments. Based on true events, it tells the story of one of the few serial killer couples in history, John and Evelyn White, as well as the plight or their most recent victim, Vicki Maloney. I loved the dynamic between those three characters, and how it shifted – a few times, actually – over the course of the movie. There were also a couple of scenes that truly stood out for me: The one where they capture her, where Ben Young really puts the audience in her shoes. The first morning. And especially the scene where John and Evelyn go into her room to have their way with her. The “closed doors”-approach worked very well here, since in my book, most of the time it’s more effective to let the audience create their own images in their head instead of actually showing what is going on. Anyway, that one as well as a couple of other scenes were really disturbing. I’m a little bit more torn about the ending. Obviously, this being a retelling of true events, they were stuck with what actually happened, but I’m not sure if I wouldn’t have preferred a different outcome. Also, the way the final scene was staged was a little weird (I have to stay vague in order not to spoil anything). And for the umpteenth time at this year’s festival, this was another movie that felt slightly too long. However, it was acted superbly by Emma Booth, Ashleigh Cummings and Stephen Curry, had some really tense moments, and a couple of scenes that are probably going to stay with me for a while. Highly recommended for everyone who likes his/her thrillers unsettling and/or based on true events.
8/10

IMDB