Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Wyatt There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Nigel P There's something in the trees. It's big and it's shaggy and could possibly be a Yowie, a kind of Bigfoot-type. Only glimpsed sporadically and often partially obscured by rampant foliage, this familiar trick by Director (and writer) Travis Bain is used to tease us as to the specifics of the creature's appearance, and also to obfuscate any short-comings of the man-in-a-suit costume. No CGI here.Kent and Jack (Anthony Ring and Shawn Brack, soon joined by Melanie Serrafin as Rhiannon) are such good fun that despite the former's continual misdeeds, it is a shame when he dies – partly because, because he has proved to be such a louse, he deserved a more prolonged send-off. The dialogue contains many moments of humour, but this is never allowed to dispel the carefully built up scenes with the Yowie, which rarely transcends its man-in-a-suit origins, sadly.Some of the set pieces last just a little too long – there is a scene with a Detective McNabb that could have done with some judicial trimming. The creature has no end of bullets fired into it without apparent effect, and yet the human protagonists still believe a bullet will stop it.This is a good, solid story, full of surprises and twists that belies the very small budget. A couple of the gore effects are very convincing, and the scenery of misty, remote Queensland jungles are very well shot. From start to finish, this is really enjoyable, with a very satisfying ending.

rpaleschi This was a bit poor to be honest and felt like it went on forever. I love low budget horror, especially Bigfoot and werewolf movies but the cardinal sin is to not show the monster (even if it's a ropey homemade costume attempt). I can understand the last reviewer smelling something fishy about the previous amazing ones as this is nowhere near the best Australian movie of the year and would probably be lucky to get into the top 50. On the plus side it didn't take itself too seriously and the characters were likable enough.The plot was average but could have made up for it with a bit of gore. It gives me no pleasure in saying this but overall it's a grim effort.

Nemesis42 As the third reviewer I might possibly be the first non-production associated reviewer here. Reviewers one and two have given this rather bad film glowing rewards. This is a badly directed, cast and acted. The shot angles do not flow into each other well. The monster is a joke, plus you never really get to see it clearly. The sound effects and sound mix are pretty ordinary, plus the music, which in itself is not bad, has been ruined buy getting mixed as flat as a dry lake bed.I normally believe if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything. But as the first two reviewers here have deliberately lied about the quality of this film, I just needed to set things straight. Also the script ... hmmmm ... most of the actors do some pretty illogical things. For example, a character is handcuffed to a one inch thick tree root. There are numerous hefty sized rocks within reach. Rather than working on chipping away at the tree root, the script has our poor character pulverize his hand with one of the rocks so that he can slip it through the hand cuffs. Go figure.It is an amateur effort. At the start it was definitely a comedy (so I thought) then it started taking itself seriously. Better to have kept it comedic.And Holy Hail storms Batman, the director, IMDb name Travoose, sent me messages filled with four letter words and threats very soon after I posted this review. What a nice guy hey?

toxiemite "Throwback" is one of my favourite references when discussing films and therefore you can imagine my anticipation when I first heard about a new film called THROWBACK! On top of that the film is about the mythical creature The Yowie (Australia's answer to Sasquatch) and has been promoted with one of the best damn movie posters I've seen in years... yep, I was sold before I even saw it. The film tells the story of two fortune seekers who hike into the depths of a far north Queensland rainforest in search of a lost treasure. The legend has it that a notorious outlaw went in with a fortune but never came out again... and so our two antagonists walk, paddle and climb their way into the dense wilderness and unbeknownst to them the area has also been at the centre of multiple disappearances. Before long they find themselves pitted against each other before being separated, hunted and terrorized by the terrifying yowie. Throw a female park ranger and an undercover homicide detective (Vernon Wells) in to the mix and you've got a winner on your hands. THROWBACK impressed the hell out of me. Right from the get go it's clear that we're in the hands of a filmmaker who knows what he's doing. With an eye for bold, cinematic wide shots and beautiful panning it becomes obvious that the makers of this small low budget film had big things on their mind. Director Travis Bain has used the picturesque landscape to his every advantage to help ground his schlocky story with a foundation of credibility. He makes no secret of the fact that THROWBACK is a tongue-in-cheek affair and yet amongst the farcical nature of the story is a deeply seeded horror and an effective use of suspense. Where most films of this nature would keep their creature hidden in the shadows, Bain has brought him out into the light. It's a ballsy move on his part with the risk of the film's credibility at stake... but he pulls it off and manages to present a convincing monster and a suspenseful story with the assistance of solid performances and a fantastic score. The music was composed by Amotz Plessner and the legendary Richard Band (Re-Animator, From Beyond) and it will be a real deal breaker for a lot of viewers. Their score is truly wonderful. It adds bucket loads of suspense and elevates the film to a whole other level. As the film's title would suggest Travis Bain has crafted his film with a deep seeded love for genre films and he pays homage to a whole lot of them. From a nice reference to THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK to an overall cue taken from CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE... his film is one of nostalgia and it's a whole lot of fun. It has played all around to the world at various film festivals and I was lucky enough to catch it at the 2014 Monster Fest. I can say, without any reservation, that THROWBACK was my favourite film of the festival. What it has accomplished on a small budget is nothing less than extraordinary.