Carnifex (2022) User Reviews

I enjoyed this one.

[Patient444 · 6/10 · 31 January 2023]

Australia has 2 kinds of horror: that which involves mostly torture on screen, and the creature type.

Now I have to say, as much as I dislike the torture/gore genres, I absolutely love monster movies. So here is where Australia, land of plenty, shines. They brought us good such productions ever since Razorback (1984) and continued doing so with, Rogue, Black Water and now Carnifex. I think of all these mentioned, Carnifex had the smallest budget, and you can see that here, but other than that, I have to give it credit.

It got itself some nice views, good actors that delivered, one different monster than what I've seen before, all wrapped in a little in the back forest horror that worked quite nicely for what it is.

Thus I shall recommend this one, because horror isn't just mainstream, it's also productions like this one, delivered from passion, that maybe doesn't make the biggest splash, but it's still a nice way of spending 90 minutes.

All in all, definitely recommended for creature movie fans, it works quite viewed late at night. Cheers!

Loved it, very Australian!

[ride_antic · 6/10 · 25 February 2023]

It's a fun movie in my book & well worth a watch. If you go camping in the Aussie bush, who knows what those noises at night are?

Typically Australian & without the mega budget, the magnificent landscapes are the backdrop (ala The Hunter) for a well done take on an Australian myth, legend or maybe reality. Even we don't know for sure.

The actors fit the bill well, as far as they know they're just normal people doing a normal job. It's not a blood & gore fest, more like a suspense WTF is that type movie.

I'm very impressed given it was filmed a few Km's from home (I know most of the locations) and it's a big screen movie.

Predator

[What-a-Punk · 6/10 · 8 March 2023]

I enjoyed this movie, even though eventually it seems like it falls flat.

First of all, I enjoyed the scenery, forest trip, campfire, nature views, light conversations - I liked that part, it seemed happy and easy, and entertaining to me.

I liked the actors and the characters, they played well.

The suspense build up was good, felt some "Predator" vibes there, you know, at some point the pressure grew like characters were being stalked and in danger, while being unaware of it. That was executed well as per my opinion.

The ending is really when the movie should've risen to its peak, but instead it fallen flat. Some bad decisions have been made during this movie creation, I guess. So, characters suddenly became silly even though as biologists they should've probably known better how to act around predators and kept safe.

Moreover, as the creature is in the center of this movie, it should've been well written and thought throw, etc.

But instead, we get this creature with overall bad design. I'm not talking about the CGI (although they were pretty lackluster in half of the scenes), but mostly its behavior, motivation and history. There is no justification in movie itself about how this could've all be possible.

So, yes, I enjoyed this one.

Still, I was a bit disappointed, because I really saw the potential for it to be so much better in the end with just a little more work.

A shallow and forgettable horror flick

[steveinadelaide · 3/10 · 20 December 2022]

CARNIFEX follows three passionate conservationists, Grace (Sisi Stringer), Bailey (Alexandra Park) and Ben (Harry Greenwood), as they venture deep into the Australian outback in hopes of recording evidence of devastation caused by the wildfires. The trio soon discovers a terrifying species - the Carnifex - that has been previously undocumented, and they quickly realize that they are now the ones being tracked.

CARNIFEX is a missed opportunity. Despite a talented cast, the story fails to take off. After a cliched opening of someone being attacked by something unseen, the first half of the movie plods on with boring and stilted dialogue and where little happens apart from the characters peering up into the trees. The documentary maker in the story hardly ever has her camera running and never does when any documentary maker would do so. The acting is unconvincing (although the dog does a decent job), and the story did not have enough suspense to keep me engaged.

The second half of the movie picks up with a couple of intense action sequences, but even then, it feels too formulaic and predictable. The effects work is satisfactory, but nothing stands out.

The bush setting is beautiful but underutilised and left me with little more than a couple of jump scares. The soundtrack also fails to engage, being sparse and lacking in tension.

CARNIFEX is a forgettable horror flick that won't leave you too traumatized or thrilled. It's an adequate timewaster, but uninspiring. If you're looking for a true horror experience, you'd be better off checking out something else.

CARNIFEX is simply a shallow and forgettable movie that doesn't live up to its potential. It boasts beautiful cinematography of the Australian bush but fails to offer anything unique or interesting. It's not worth your time or money.

Preachy modern horror.

[jurasikpaul · 3/10 · 30 January 2023]

Not that bad, fairly well filmed and with pretty nice sight of the Australian bush, but it suffers from the modern need to preach you to death, to the point that it just get insufferable.

So first you have to go through literally half the movie getting preach mercilessly about ecology and the evil of human, 45 minutes of characters walking in the forest giving you life lessons and guilting you to oblivion. Without counting the also very modern need of writing every male character as a goofy caricature unable to do anything but be a joke (it could have passed fairly in this movie if not every male character were not just simply useless without exception).

Then comes the usual bad writing of lazy horror, with the final 30 minutes, where every character becomes dumb for no reason, running around in the dark and forgetting they are professional who should know how to handle a situation involving a predator. And of course the predator himself which literally a scene after being describe as an ambush and stalker predator (and behaving like one), suddenly decide to become stupid and pursue the main characters like any dumb generic predator.

In the end, like I said, nicely filmed, but lazy writing suffering from the modern tropes of having to preach you instead of entertaining you.

A fun little Aussie horror

[Moomarin · 25 October 2022]

Carnifex is a fun little horror movie set in the Aussie bush with an energetic cast, evocative score, and gorgeous scenery. Add a cute dog, a bit of humour, and a deadly beast out for blood, and you've got all the key ingredients of the genre. What makes it distinctive is its creature - one I've never seen in a film before!

The start is slow; just stuff your face with popcorn and get through it and then enjoy the ride when it takes off.

Don't let mmsucks's review, suggesting this movie has ripped off Michael J. Hellscream's novel of the same name, put you off - that book and this movie share a generic horror plot that we've all seen and read a thousand times before, with the same title and creature. That's pretty common in film, especially of this genre. And it isn't a bad thing! Let it go, mate!

Simply too uneventful and slow paced...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 28 January 2023]

I will say that I found the cover for the 2022 horror movie "Carnifex" interesting enough to pick it up. And with "Carnifex" being a horror movie that I had not already seen, nor even heard about, of course I opted to watch it.

The storyline in the movie, as written by Shanti Gudgeon, definitely had potential. However, the movie was just too slow paced and ineffective. It was clear that writer Shanti Gudgeon and director Sean Lahiff were aiming at tension and atmosphere, more than they opted for a traditional gore horror movie. It didn't really play out all that well in my book, especially because you have to wait 56 minutes before you get a glimpse of the creature. And by that time it was just too little, too late, especially since the movie ran at 93 minutes in total.

"Carnifex" is a slow paced movie with a narrative that actually doesn't offer all that much to the audience. But if you consider watching three people walking around in the wilderness, looking at camera traps exciting, then you are definitely in for a treat. I was expecting a tad more than just that, so I found "Carnifex" to be somewhat of a swing and a miss.

And with nearly 1 hour into the movie before things start to happen, I have to say that my patience and interest in the movie was fast waning.

This is a movie with a very small cast ensemble, so there was an additional amount of pressure on the performances delivered by Harry Greenwood, Alexandra Park and Sisi Stringer. They actually fared well enough, taking into consideration the lack of a properly engaging script and storyline.

Visually then "Carnifex" was okay. I mean, you don't get to see anything interesting before 56 minutes into the foray. And with less than a couple of minutes, perhaps 2 or 3, of screentime, then it made for a rather dull creature feature.

Sure, the atmosphere and tension in the movie was good, but the narrative was just too mundane and slow paced to keep things interesting.

My rating of "Carnifex" lands on a very generous four out of ten stars.

Slow moving, but I enjoyed it

[dukestwinpack · 7/10 · 2 May 2023]

Although somewhat slow moving, I appreciated that they didn't fill it with too much CGI. The three main characters' interactions with each other made me care about them even though, this being a horror movie, I figured most of them would be killed. I don't like a lot of gore and this movie doesn't give much at all so I was happy with that. The dog Goose was a welcome addition near the end.

The worst part of the movie is at the end right before the credits when the director gives a woke 'land acknowledgement'. Good thing they put it at the end because if they'd put it at the beginning I wouldn't have bothered watching at all.

Right now the rating for this movie is 4.6 and I would easily give it a 7. I'd rather watch a movie like this (even with its faults) than all those CGI superhero movies that get such high scores.

Terrible movie, it's Creature feature with no creature present.

[jerryson_e · 1/10 · 16 February 2023]

This isn't a monster movie. The monster gets practically no screen time. It's just 3 weirdos. A weak white dude, a strong white women and a strong black women for diversity. They travel thru the jungle and preach just like every modern movie. There is nothing scary or interesting. Instead of showing you the "monster" they chose to pan the camera to the faces of the three stooges who, in my opinion can't act. It's just a mess. What's the point of a creature feature if there is no creature on screen?

The only time anyone should watch this movie is when they've just had surgery on both eyes and can't see anything.

A generally enjoyable enough creature feature

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 31 December 2023]

After a devastating forest fire, a documentary team heads into the Australian outback to check the impact on the local wildlife, but as they go about their mission find that they may have inadvertently stumbled upon the hunting grounds of a vicious, legendary predator and must get away alive.

This was a rather fun genre effort even with some minor issues. One of the stronger elements here is the general setup featured here with the idea featuring some rather intriguing elements. With the idea of the group going into the outback trying to figure out if the recent fire has impacted the local wildlife but slowly finding that something is stalking them, this works nicely enough to the point where it manages to deliver a decent enough setup to bring the group out into the wilderness. The early scenes of them wandering around the woods trying to get their gear working or finding if anything needs help to sort out the bonus of bringing about the fun of getting to know them but the escalating tension found by being in the gorgeous locations keep it moving along during this section. That brings about the generally fun second half where the series of creature attacks and confrontations that are quite fun to see play out. With the first attack on the ranger showing off the brutality quite nicely, the later scenes that show it attacking the animal in the middle of the forest while they watch it occur through their camera equipment that only grants them a night-vision series of glances at it but serves to get the rest of the encounters going. Built around a series of chases and escapes trying to get out of the woods when they realize what's going on and that they've encroached on its territory, this adds a solid series of chases and impressive suspense-filled encounters that are quite exciting with enough gore, decent jump-scares, and a solid enough creature for its positive points. There are some drawbacks to be had with this one. One of the main issues here is the stagnant and dreary pacing that moves the film along quite slowly so it never develops the kind of steam that it really could. From endless scenes of the group blathering on about the different wildlife they see on their equipment during the night or their personal lives which doesn't offer much in the way of interest during the first half. That it never provides much in the way of interesting creature action throughout here since most of this setup keeps the creature off-screen for nearly an hour into it can be a bit of an issue with the sluggish tempo keeping it from really letting loose with the kind of action or scares usually featured in these kinds of films. The other issue here, despite how fun this part of the film is, the final half does have a lot of stupidity on display to keep this going. The fact that the main figure here is a supposed documentary filmmaker but never once sets anything up unless it's designated interview footage or everyone is standing around observing something in the distance destroys the illusion of who she is. Likewise, the entirety of the chase through the woods is utterly stupid with everyone running after a frightened creature while using night-vision equipment since they can't locate it at night so they don't come off much smarter either. As well, with the constantly changing creature's behavior who goes from an ambush predator to a stalker for no reason than bringing about more carnage, these factors are what brings this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, and animals-in-jeopardy.

Desperately seeking supials

[TheHarbingerOfReason · 1/10 · 31 January 2023]

They say no good movies are made in Australia by Australians anymore. This didn't help that argument! At all! In any way! Shape or form!!!

As with every Aussie film made in the last ten years, that hasnt had an award winner in the front seat, this feels like a school project film.

All the usual suspects are here. The script full of plot forcing sentences, that would never actually be said. The actors that didn't bother to explore what their characters jobs actually entail. The camera work that someone desperately tried to show some skill with but the editor didn't really know how to use. The music that sounds like a stock music rip off of something from a better movie they tried emulating. I could have written this review without even seeing a second of this film. It's like every other trashy Aussie horror snore-fest

AND THE BIGGEST SIN! The thing that never ever, EVER! Should be left out of a creature feature...Not a single puppet, prop or even a piece of carpet to be used as a practical physical set piece for the creature... NOTHING!!!! Just bad CGI modeling and animation from whatever Cert IV multimedia student happens to know someone on crew.

As a side note, the nepotism in the reviews around this film is insane! "As good as Wolf creek." "...a groundbreaking piece of Australian cinema" Oh my merciful Jessepe! They could at least give their friends and relatives a cheat sheet on how not to make it obvious. I'm surprised they didn't put up a Sundance logo and remove a single leaf off the wreath to avoid being sued!

Also, Sisi Stringer, hang it up love. If you can't keep a series about a vampire high-school afloat it might be time to see Neighbours is back yet.

God why did this film make me so mad!?

Is it because of all the government grants handed out to Aussie filmmakers (see: Camera owner)

I need a sandwich or something.

Oh the colour grading was actually amazing!!! Really good work.

Don't pay to see this film! And if you did, join the law suit of the guy who's book they might have actually ripped, also called Carnifex (2015) . But don't bother because that's actually worse than the film but that's a goodreads review for later.

Solid Aussie effort.

[scottrussell-00083 · 9/10 · 22 November 2023]

Was smarter than expected, not the usual Australian "killer animal" movie.

There have been too many shark and crocodile films, it's nice to see something different.

It's a slower paced film, choosing to take its time to build some tension.

The characters are well developed, except perhaps for the main girl Bailey. I found that I enjoyed the other two characters more and found their chemistry enjoyable.

The films takes a subtle approach to its creature by only showing glimpses, forcing the viewer to use their imagination. This is a preferable approach for me personally because I find if a film shows it in too much detail, it loses tension.

Fun little monster movie.

[lord-blade · 7/10 · 19 April 2023]

A nice Australian film providing a ton of beautiful scenery and nature tidbits, along with a quite well done monster and some good jumps and tension.

Thankfully not the typical endless series of jump scares. The movie does a good job of ratcheting up the tension and getting you ready for something to leap out, without being too predictable. It does take a while for the action to get going, but it makes up for it by giving you some interesting character moments, and a lot of natural goodness to enjoy before the creepy begins.

The special effects aren't breathtaking, but at the same time, for a limited budget film like this, they're well done, and don't detract from the movie.

A fun watch.

Horrendous and annoying to the extent that it's infuriating.

[derek-a-charette100 · 1/10 · 7 March 2023]

How this excuse of a sci-fi horror movie has a rating anywhere above a 2 is mind baffling. The only reason I kept watching past the halfway point was to hopefully get the satisfaction of watching these monumentally annoying characters getting killed or at least seriously maimed for my viewing pleasure.

This pathetic waste of time movie broke my cardinal sin: JUMP SCARES.

You know, when I watch a horror movie, I want to be terrified - not given a heart attack from copout jump scares. Jump scares are the last ditch effort to try and salvage a useless, terrible horror movie actually have some sort of fear and horror so they can pass it off as a horror movie.

The characters are beyond annoying, and I've never seen so much mindless dross. Hopefully the producers lost their ass with this production and are now relegated to living in a trailer park.

Boredom followed by terror

[okpilak · 4/10 · 5 January 2024]

About half of the movie has little action, and the complaints about the dialogue or persons are really misplaced. Two of them are scientists, and yes, scientists talk differently when they are involved in their passion, which is protecting that land from logging. If they can find an endangered species on the land, it can be protected. The forest fires have displaced animals from their normal range, and they are now competing within a smaller area. Two scientists go out into the forests and check the cameras set up and document the wildlife followed along with a reporter who is filming their work. And the message is heavily on protecting the area. So for a large portion of the movie, it is merely following them around, and finding that there are many animals that go 'bump' in the night. But at one location, they find scratch marks on a tree. Ben posits it could be a carnifex, which supposedly is extinct, but the fires could have flushed it out from its regular spot. The name comes from an ancient Roman word for a nighttime ambush predator, known as an executioner due to its deadly ability. And that is what it is, and not good for the three of them. To their credit, since most of the action takes place at night, a good look is not given to the creature for most of the movie and they track it mostly with infrared cameras. It starts to get tense. It is a decent movie, not great, but not a total dud either.

This is a hard one to review

[kirachloe · 3/10 · 27 April 2023]

Wow ... this one ... well I have conflicting thoughts ... but in the end there is just so much more bad than good. OK, GREAT locations, and the scene direction is actually really good. Turning off the sound and watching the scenes go by would actually have made this more enjoyable.

That said, the script was AWFUL. Is it so hard for low budget producers/directors to understand that this is one of the most cost effective way to take a movie from crappy to excellent? So if you settle for something you scrawled out while on the can, well you should have left it in there. And audiences do want to be preached to, STOP IT!

The absolute overuse of crud moves (as one reviewer described them as 'jump scenes') ... oh my, what a waste.

It bugs me when some reviewers give high marks when they consider only one or two factors. Yes, I agree the scenery is great, but if the rest of the components of a good movies aren't there, you should not get high rating.

Boring?

[fluffchop · 4/10 · 25 March 2023]

Very few characters and we never see the creature. Australian movies usually always suck and this lives up to that norm. For a better movie see Razorback (1984). I enjoyed how they were going through the Aussie bush. I enjoyed how it was very Aussie in doing so. It would have been far better if they added a third act which included discovering a new species. Instead it just sort of meanders along into an unsatisfying ending. Pretty much not worth your trouble unless you identify with walking through the Australian bush. It was nice to see some animals. If you like to visit Australia and it's wildlife parks you might like some elements of this film. It was ok but nothing to write home about if you're on holiday in Australia. Nice on skip.

Life finds a way

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 2 May 2023]

Following a devastating old woods forest fire, three environmentalist go into the surrounding woods to document any new and invasive species. Their main goal is to hopefully film endangered wildlife in order to preserve the habitat. Ben (Harry Greenwood) is the knowledgeable cameraman who can identify species from their sounds. Baily (Alexandra Park) appears to be the lead in the group and is also joined by Grace (Sisi Stringer)The film develop slow enough to let you digest all the information they feed the audience to prepare them for the title creature you know is coming. The production utilizes the soundtrack and jump scares effectively. I did find one jump scare very effective as it caught a seasoned watcher like myself off guard.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Boring Disaster Creature Feature

[movieguy3000 · 2/10 · 21 August 2023]

A film that follows some conservationists looking to record evidence of drop-bear like creatures called carnifex, which are like prehistoric. The film is shot well, and some nice landscapes but the characters lack any interesting traits, the actors are mediocre and bring nothing to the table. The fact that there is a UNIVERSAL studios logo at the start of this film baffles me. Most of movie you barely even get a glimpse of the creature. Its so slow-paced and all they do is talk and talk and talk and it's just expositional dialogue explaining about all the science. It's quite a boring movie, there is no excitement, no stakes, no turning points. This is terrible writing, terrible casting and horrible directing. The Director is an editor - so that says a lot. Another reason why Aussies seem to fail at storytelling, a basic fundamental of most societies.

Boring, Frustrating

[BonesMacenz · 2/10 · 26 September 2023]

I'm not sure what Universal Films was thinking. This movie was poorly executed and boring. I had to opt out 20 minutes from the end, that's how insulting it was.

First, nobody wants to fire up a scary creature feature only to be preached at by environmental fanatics. After watching Carnifex, I am now an expert on species relocation due to wildfires and human greed.

Second, it was boring. 56 minutes into the movie, we finally get a glimpse of "The Carnifex". And it looked like a killer, carnivorous sloth (man in a hair suit) to me. The first 2/3rd's of the movie was just watching three people camp and duck at swooping birds (cheap attempts at jump scares).

By this point, I just wished the monster would just do something, anything. It's just a bad movie that doesn't realize it's a bad movie.

I just expected more from a Universal movie. The acting was good, which is the only thing separating "Carnifex" from a SyFy movie. Though SyFy usually contain more action.

Really good acting

[Sandrina862 · 8/10 · 6 May 2023]

They were all such good actors for a low budget film. I love the feature creatures movies though. I Watch them all the time but they just don't make them like in the 80s and 90s. This was predictable of course but so much fun! The plot is a little thin but it's worth a watch. Creature in the forest, plucky environmentalists, cameras galore, and trick scares. I definitely recommend. A lot is left to the imagination in spite of her having all the good equipment like camera and FLYR. Forgive my arrogance, but I have been watching these for over 15 years now. This is a movie that is not do w like American movies and that makes it better, in my opinion.

DEATH KOALA

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 29 April 2023]

When two conservationists -- Grace (Sisi Stringer) and Ben (Harry Greenwood) -- and a filmmaker named Bailey (Alexandra Park) travel deep into the Australian outback to track and record the animals displaced by the unprecedented bushfires of 2019 -- climate change is real -- they soon learn that they aren't the hunters. They are the hunted.

Directed by Sean Lahiff (this is his first full-length film; he also works as an editor) and written by Shanti Gudgeon (the Wolf Creek TV series), Carnifex is about the unseen predator and brand new species that exists in the new world that has been created by the inferno that consumed Australia's outback.

The Carnifex itself ends up being something like the Drop Bear, an Australian cryptid that is the size of a leopard or a large dog. Drop Bears supposedly hunt by ambushing from above and wait for hours to make a surprise kill. Supposedly, if you have a fork in your hair or vegemite or toothbrush behind your ears, they will leave you alone.

It looks way too cute when you finally see it. Is it a death koala? But anyways -- the more it stays to the shadows, the better this movie is. I can say that for most monster movies, you know?

An Interesting Idea, but not fulfilled.

[fatfil-414-451797 · 3/10 · 3 March 2024]

This is an Australian movie, and follows two conservationists and a reporter/photographer, who travel into the depths of the Australian outback to survey all the indigenous animals that have been displaced by the recent (at the time) devastating bush fires. During their journey they start to realise there may be something more than the usual species that have been forced out of hiding by the fire.

Now, if anyone has read any of my previous reviews, they will know I am a fan of the slow burner horror movie. I don't need to see heads exploding in the first five minutes of the film. However, this one is such a slow burner it barely raises above room temperature.

The first hour of the movie is just the main characters travelling around collecting trail cams, camping and not a lot else. And when it does finally start to ramp up, it does so in a very Limited way. The acting by the three leads is pretty good throughout, but they are let down by the slow pace, and considering this is slated as a "creature feature" the creature only appears on screen for five minutes or less. And the re is very little in the way of story, and what there is, is predictable anddisappointing.

Beware the Drop Bear!

[andrew-towers · 3/10 · 27 June 2023]

Carnifex is a micro budget Australian "horror" movie. It follows 3 conservationists as they trek the bush and stumble into the territory of the CARNIFEX, a bad CGI cross between a koala and a wombat on steroids. Thats about it as far as plot goes and the 3 characters are pretty standard for a creature feature. It takes a long time to get started but the scenery is nice and does build some atmosphere as it goes. Once the drop bear, sorry I mean carnfex attacks it's all the usual stuff you would expect.

Overall it's not bad as long as you go in with low expectations. A good late night horror movie to go to sleep while watching.

Great Aussie Creature Feature

[ladymidath · 9/10 · 28 May 2023]

When Australia make a horror movie, they do it well and when it involves terrifying creatures, we are at the top of our game. Dark Water, Red Billabong, Rogue, There's Something in the Pilliga, and now Carnifex. This is an engrossing movie about a huge dangerous megafauna that has somehow managed to survive and remain hidden deep in the bush until a bushfire forces it to change its hunting ground. The action is great and the movie does take its time to set the mood and pace. The photography in the bush is spectacular showcasing Australia's unique wildlife.

This is a movie that also has a strong environmental message as Australia has been experiencing massive land clearing that has been pushing wildlife to near extinction. This has also been happening worldwide so this delivers an important message about preserving what we have left of our habitats. But even without that message, this is still a good horror movie.