THE SNOWTOWN MURDERS

What is it about serial killers that makes us so fascinated by them? But why is it that when people think of serial killers, only the American ones seem to be the most well known? Is it because our media sensationalized them? Sure we have Gacy, Dahmer, Gein and H.H. Holmes, but there are countless others from other countries that are just as bad.

Snowtown or Snowtown Murders as it's known in the states, is a 2011 Australian drama about the murders that took place between 92 and 1999.  In the small destitute parts of Adelaide, Four men took the lives of 12 victims. In 1999 they were apprehended and underwent the longest and most public trial in Australian history. To put this in perspective this case was the American equivalent of the OJ trial . This movie is based on those events.

The movie opens as we see the countryside passing by and a story about what is obviously a dream. We then meet a single mother raising four boys. She leaves the three youngest ones with a neighbor who molests all three of them. When the mother finds out she has the neighbor arrested, but he's out in no time. This is when John Bunting enters the picture. John is a moral crusader, who through tormenting the neighbor with late night engine revving or throwing ground up road kill on his lawn, drives him to move. Once John starts dating the mom a real family dynamic starts to occur. Jamie Vlassakis, the second oldest son starts to develop a father/son bond. All the meanwhile Jamie is getting beaten and raped by his older brother.  John teaches Jamie to stand up for himself… by telling Jamie to shoot his dog.  After Jamie pulls the trigger, he senses something is off with John, but doesn’t want to jeopardize his family life.

Over time Jamie learns that John and John's friends have been killing the dregs of society and committing identity theft to fund their activities.  Ranking in victims like a cross dressing neighbor, a drug dealer and even making Jamie strangle his older brother.  Jamie becomes a loyal servant and follows John to murder and hiding the bodies in barrels, then storing them in an abandoned back vault in Snowtown.  Eventually making Jamie join them in this killing spree spaced out over the next seven years.  John comes across like a cult leader, very reminiscent of Charles Manson.  Including his gravitas and charisma.

This is one of those movies that's been on my Most Disturbing Movies list for a while, but I never got around to watching it. It's not gory, nor suspenseful. It actually focuses on Jamie's struggle for fatherly love and even paints Jamie as the victim. The movie is unsettling at parts, but that’s because of Jamie’s young age.  It’s similar to Alex from A Clockwork Orange, the reason it’s so shocking is because of Jamie’s youth.   This movie does leave out some MAJOR questions. How did they get caught? What drove them to turn on each other? Why wasn't John executed? Why did the Australian media call them The Bodies In The Barrels Murders instead of something catchier?  You would think that the largest and most drawn out trial in Australian history would have addressed these issues.

The movie is slow and drawn out...like both trials. However the acting is great. Jamie, played by Lucas Pittaway, was portrayed in such a way that you actually feel for him and start to side with him in his activities. John, played by Daniel Henshall, was so charismatic and gave off an imposing presence, that it's easy to see why he was able to convince people to do his bidding. The cinematography was absolutely beautiful, it felt more like an art house movie than anything else. I can't recommend this movie though. Aside from the acting and cinematography, it's slow to the point of boring and it doesn't depict them as the monsters they were, nor does it depict the savagery of their crimes.  This movie portrayed them as moral crusaders, which is what the actual John called himself at the trial, giving a frightening speech.  Why wasn’t THAT in the movie???? If you come across it. Skip it.

That's just my opinion.