Director Ryan Coonan's RIPPY, about a zombie kangaroo on the rampage in a small and remote Australian town, is getting a Digital and DVD release from Altitude Films.
Now, you're probably thinking that with that sort of subject matter you might just be in for something laugh a minute, perhaps even a spoof of not just creature features but Australian exploitation cinema as a whole.
But no. Sadly, RIPPY isn't like that at all.
RIPPY is played dead (sorry) serious throughout, so much so that you get the feeling the movie started off as a sober subject about a killer animal run wild, and then someone had the bright idea in post-production that it would be much improved if the threat was, instead, a CGI zombie kangaroo.
That would certainly explain why we don't see the creature for a lot of the running time, except in occasional brief close ups. Instead we get the story of small town sheriff Maddie (Tess Haubrich) who is approached one morning by slightly mad Schmitty (Michael Biehn who, it must be said, still has it) who is convinced he shot a creature on his property that then refused to die.
Meanwhile bodies are starting to pile up, with post mortem findings (some nice gore effects here) suggesting the bodies were bitten and torn rather than injured with a weapon. It's not long before an expedition into the wilderness is mounted, with the inevitable showdown taking place once we're back in town.
RIPPY boasts some gorgeous locations and the acting is absolutely fine. However it could do with quite a bit more monster action and rather fewer lengthy dialogue sequences. Still, at just over 80 minutes it makes for brief undemanding entertainment that could easily have ended up as a Frightfest midnight movie. Here's the trailer:
RIPPY is out from Altitude Films on Digital on Monday 30th December 2024 and DVD on Monday 13th January 2025
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