Rippy
It is a long running joke that beyond the cuddly face of the koala the wildlife of Australia is predominantly hostile and dangerous, an island continent populated by crocodiles, spiders and scorpions surrounded by shark infested waters where unwanted citizens of the British Empire were once exiled in punishment, but in the right circumstances even the more docile species such as kangaroos can be triggered to aggression, a problem when those species are already physically intimidating.
Her late father a hero to the locals, it is to sheriff Maddie they turn when the mutilated bodies of two mine workers are found dead by the roadside; suspicion first falling on their co-worker Reuben with his history of violence who is appropriately detained, eccentric outsider Schmitty claims that the pair were killed by an inhuman beast, the embodiment of evil which is impervious to bullet, and when a child dies after the all-clear is given Maddie realises her presumption was wrong.
Originally entitled The Red, the seven-foot spring-loaded unstoppable killing machine redubbed Rippy is directed by Ryan Coonan from a script co-written with Richard Barcaricchio, based on their 2014 short Waterborne and expanding the idea behind it with the rivers through the forests near the outback settlement of Axehead contaminated by chemical runoff from the Torrent Mining operation which turns the raging roo into an unstoppable zombie, hungry for flesh.
Starring Alien: Covenant’s Tess Haubrich as Maddie and Aliens’ Michael Biehn as Schmitty, alone since separating from Angie Milliken’s barkeep Donna whose love had been worn thin by his drinking, with a brief role for Furiosa’s Nathan Jones Rippy promises nature gone wild with a barbecued Ozploitation flavour but fails to deliver, the poor execution of the barely seen kangaroo and its comical motion as it bounds towards its victims making it less than menacing.
What might have worked as a Jaws style unseen presence lurking in the shadows of the trees, the sceptical authorities coming to understand the pattern behind the attacks and making their plans, is a hope which never emerges; instead, the search parties are poorly prepared, undisciplined and easily distracted when they should be keeping watch, though Rippy borrows other aspects of the great white with Schmitty’s drunken war stories and Mama Kitchener weeping over the son she had believed would be safe.
The tainted water supply apparent from the opening scene, any intended environmental through line or repercussions are abandoned as swiftly as the threat of Ofwat sanctions, the greater picture lost in favour of blind stumbling through the dark towards a siege at Donna’s watering hole which apparently holds the entire population of the township until the end credits take the film in a more comedic and lively direction which should have been the starting point.
Rippy will be available on Altitude and other digital platforms from Monday 30th December and on DVD from Monday 13th January
