Red Hill Review

• 30th May 2011

Drawing comparisons to Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter, Red Hill is set in a small town with little to recommend it. New cop in town Shane Cooper (Ryan Kwanten) tries his best to settle in with the locals and the cops that run the show there, while his pregnant wife sits at home.

Trouble brews when it’s reported that a local convict by the name of Jimmy Conway has escaped prison. Suddenly all the locals start shitting bricks as they hit the red alert status and run out armed to the teeth with the sole purpose of putting this escapee down on sight.

Shane gets into the mix and discovers all is not what it appears to be as he’s confronted by Conway. From here on in it’s a ruthless bloodbath among the officials as both parties try to take each other down.

Patrick Hughes has directed this film with assurance. The entire atmosphere feels very cold and bleak which adds to the mounting tension as Conway comes to town. The western undertones become all too prominent as Conway starts quick drawing on people he perceives to be his enemy.

It’s perhaps a little bit long in the middle as people are running back and forth with little evidence of a plan. But there are some decent shoot-outs and even the odd scare as Conway, almost ghost-like, roams the streets, fields and corridors of the town.

Red Hill screened at the UK’s Frightfest last year and went down very well with audiences, making it one of the highlights. Despite it not really being a horror, you can see why they took it on. Red Hill is one to watch!

Steven Hurst