Down by the Riverside (2007)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Directors:

Brad Davison
Marama Killen

Writers:

Brad Davison (writer)
Joe Hitchcock (original story)

Release Date:

2 November 2007 (New Zealand)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Who will survive?

Plot:

New Zealand 1920. Five pregnant, unwed girls are sent to a country house to have their children. Twenty years later, the horrific truth is discovered.

Plot Keywords:

Birth | New Zealand | Murder | Historian | Forest

Cast

Shane Burns	...	The Driver
Jo Eggleton	...	Mary
Lydia Farley	...	Sophie Andrews
Jordan-Leigh Foulds	...	Iris
Ross MacLeod	...	Sidney Harrison
Katya McGeady	...	Young Amelia
Luke McPake	...	Benny Johnson
Axle Ness	...	Walter Cardiff
Lyn Renwick	...	The Nurse
Shelley Riddle	...	Anna
Toby Sharpe	...	Owen Smith
Rebecca Trelease	...	Amelia
Maia Wharawhara	...	Kahu

Also Known As:

Revelation 4:11 (New Zealand: English title) (working title)

Runtime:

New Zealand:84 min

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

Maori | English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Te Aroha, Waikato, New Zealand

Company:

Downending Films

Trivia:

The fan in Owen's office was created as an editing afterthought, as something to cut away to during the scene. The fan shot is completely 3D generated and animated.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: A modern car is visible in one shot through a background window, in an early scene in the dining room.

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Owen Smith: They found the wife easy enough, that was no problem, she was in the living room with 18 stab wounds to her chest, it was the children they couldn't find. They spent ages looking, weeks, and almost gave up the search. Till an officer went back to the house, and smelt something odd coming from the fireplace. Looked up the chimney, he'd jammed the two children up there.
Amelia: Fortunately for us they found all the bodies...

Movie Connections:

References Private Eyes (2004)

Soundtrack:

Taonga Puoro

Maybe films that cannot put together essentials, shouldn't be made.

In the early twentieth century, several pregnant girls met in a rural birthing house, where they were sent away by their parents, to give birth and adopt away their children. Almost twenty years later, two historians research the horrific story of the girls and find that the unsolved murder mystery is far from over. Was shot in and around the Waikato town of Te Aroha, but would have been better assisted by filming around the Hawke Bay Art Deco areas of Hastings or Napier. The lack of a production manager and art director shows, along with the less than satisfactory sound and lighting results. Yes, I know that is was done on a no-profit, almost no money basis, but maybe films that cannot put together essentials, shouldn't be made. The best aspect of this one is the original score.