‘They found the wife easy enough, that was no problem, she was in the living room with 18 stab wounds to her chest, it was the children they couldn't find’.
There is a reason why very few will had heard of this independent Kiwi attempt at film noir tinged horror. It’s terrible, and not in a good way. Never adept enough to even accidentally fall into the ‘it’s-so-bad-its-good’ vein, Down by the Riverside proves a painful watch.
Horrific Kiwi Cinema (Spoilers Ahead)
This is a film that unfortunately found itself in possession of a woefully incoherent script. One that scrambles what are essentially classic horror narrative threads, and then interjects them into its equally inchoate and forced set pieces. The acting talent on show is likewise rarely able to shrug off their glaring inexperience and instead seem perpetually lost, never entirely sure as to where they should be standing or even looking.
Lines of dialog fall like bricks and further weigh down the production with only its lead, Rebecca Trelease, showing any form of competency. Harsh testament perhaps, but independent micro/no-budget or not, for this horror to work it had to at least offer its audience something for its time. The fact that it got made and distributed at all is of coarse achievement in itself, though this is sadly the very peak of its worth.
Brad Davison and Marama Killen Direct
Down by the Riverside opens with yet another of those annoyingly misleading banners that state that the film to come is based on real events. Although it does indeed draw its central premise from an actual documented criminal case, it retains little more. The mode and reason for the killings in question offer an intriguing hook, but it is one that is here never properly developed. In spite of this there is a chilling sense that these dark, almost ritualistic killings could have in fact really happened. But again it is an opportunity undermined by performances that lapse again and again into the realm of unintentional humour.
The narrative is divided into two eras. The first is one occupied by Owen Smith (Toby Sharpe) and his new assistant Amelia Laird (Rebecca Trelease). Smith is an investigative journalist that along with Amelia set out to blow the dust off a murder case-file now 20 years old.
The second thread is set in a New Zealand of the 1920’s. Here a group of young pregnant girls find themselves shipped away to a church-run boarding house. Away from societies judging eye, the girls are schooled by the homes resident priest. Upon the eventual arrival of their babies a caretaker of sorts, Walter Cardiff (Axle Ness) lurches (again with almost comedic timing) into shot and whisks the children away for adoption.
And so it is that the films time-lines haphazardly ebb and flow between each other. This actually works very well in a couple of instances by transporting Smith, Amelia and even the audience directly back to the scene of the crime. But an at times shocking lack of editing prowess hobbles the effect - disjointing and slowly what was an already deathly slow plot arc.
A decidedly misplaced silent narrator appears at the beginning and very end of the film. His inclusion, although weird and fanciful, only serves to distract. This is especially so when he withdraws from the central narrative altogether. Subjecting both himself and the viewer to a rambling monologue delivered by a character who likewise appears from nowhere. It all surely had purpose but it is a purpose lost, drowned in a major communication disconnect between storyteller and audience.
Down by the Riverside – Acting
The casting here is for the most part strikingly amateur, par for the course for this breed of no budget independent production. But there are a couple of notable performances nonetheless: Rebecca Trelease (Shortland Street/ serialized New Zealand medical TV drama) competently and amiably attempts to derive drama and tension from her lettuce leaf limp script. Trelease was in fact the recipient of a Best Actress nomination for her portrayal here at The B-Movie Film Festival, a US celebration of films made with minimalist budgets.
The other performance of mention comes from fellow New Zealander Maia Wharawhara (Kahu). She struggles better than most here with the art of projecting lines into and through the camera, but she is also undeniably screen present; igniting the frame whenever she crosses through it. An enigmatic find that is perhaps only lacking in experience,
Toby Sharpe certainly looks the part as the Bogart era inspired journalist, constantly scribbling notes into his ever-present notepad. But his delivery is as stilted and wooden as it is flat. A fact not aided by the productions other major failing - sound. Here voices drift in and out of audibility and an impressive original score is laid on so thick that it smothers all beneath it.
Shot entirely in black and white and paying ham-fisted homage to noirs gone by, Down by the Riverside is a film that fails almost completely. Yet it is still somehow able to leave an intriguing aftertaste, one that hopefully suggests that these are just the first stumbling steps toward much better things to come.
Down by the Riverside
- Directors … Brad Davison (Private Eyes/ Writer) and Marama Killen (The Sword, the Wand and the Stone)
- Cast:
- Rebecca Trelease, Maia Wharawhara, Toby Sharpe, Ross Macleod, Lydia Farley, Alex Ness, Shelley Riddle, Jo Eggleton.
- Runtime … 84 minutes
- Cinematic Release Date: November 2, 2007 (Subsequently now available on DVD)
- New Zealand
- Trailer: Down by the Riverside
Hari Navarro - Hari Navarro is Topic Editor for Suite 101's Horror Film section and Editor/ Writer at online horror review site, The Hell Street ...
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