The Locals

A real underseen gem!!! I went into this Kiwi backwoods horror expecting not a lot, but this film seriously exceeded my expectations. It's thoroughly enjoyable, suitably creepy, emotional, and quite inventive too for its time. There's a supernatural spin added to this backwoods horror, and I quite enjoyed how carefully thought the blending was. The direction in here is really solid. It overcomes its low-budget limitations and effectively creates suspense and emotion throughout. Although it mostly delivers in that department, the real highlight of this film is actually the characters' chemistry on screen which brings such a fun and deep emotional element to the story. Getting to know these characters and their dynamics was a pleasure and I'll be sure to come back. It's a shame this film is so underseen and underloved.