Ladies and gentleman if there was any concerns beforehand surrounding the current state of Australian horror films, then let the Cairnes Brothers Scare Campaign put any of those lingering doubts to bed as this low budget yet often ingenuous little horror treat showcases that the genre is still alive and well in our fair shores.
On the back of fellow shoestring budget films like Wrymwood and Observance and the Cairnes Brothers previous film (which sadly got lost in a huge collection of illegal downloads) 100 Bloody Acres, Scare Campaign may not be a faultless experience but it's a downright fun one and one I can see making its way to Hollywood in the form of a remake sometime in the near future.
Having a blast with their pitch black comedy elements and skewering of modern day audiences thirst for bigger and better and in the case of this particular narrative, more bloody and ruthless, the Cairnes Brothers ramp up the gore-o-meter to 11 as bodies are dismembered, sliced and diced and generally dispatched in all manner of gruesome and it must be said inventive ways as our crew of reality TV filmmakers and actors realise they've bitten off more than they can chew.
Utilising the ready-made set at their disposal in the form of an old mental hospital near the boundary line of the Victorian and New South Wales borders, the Cairnes Brothers have a ball putting their willing cast lead by Meegan Warner's actress Emma and her director/on-off boyfriend Marcus played by Ian Meadow's into a terrifying situation that more than once takes turns into the depraved and unpredictable and while the brothers script work undoubtedly needs polish, their gleeful direction clearly showcases horror fans working on a project that is passionate to them as genre aficionados.
Showing inventiveness and a wittiness not often found in films of this ilk (plus a mastery of claret spilling), Scare Campaign is a quick-fire horror experience that will leave many horror hounds thoroughly happy with what the Cairnes Brothers have served up and on the back of two promising ventures into the horror genre from the brothers now in the bag there's reason to get excited on where the duo will head to next.
3 ½ rubber guns out of 5
