Home Kills

AroView: A wholly under-rated darkly comic thriller from writer-director Haydn Butler in his feature film debut about a couple of brothers who resort to desperate measures to prop up their late father’s failing meat supply business in the rural Waikato.

It might look like a blunt and overfamiliar genre film, but under the hood of this unvarnished Kiwisploitation movie is a solid, carefully tooled engine fuelled by a couple of grunty performances by Cameron Jones and Josh McKenzie. They swear like troopers, but so would you if you found yourself this deep in the shit, and director Haydn Butler’s confident, credible script gives them plenty else to say and do as the (often hilarious) curve balls keep coming. We haven’t had a local bogan classic for a wee while, so this could be a real contender. ★★★★

“Director Haydn Butler slowly tightens the noose with the mischievous glee of a Coen brother…” ~Adrian Hatwell, NZIFF

“Home Kills drops the audience into a pit so deep that it would send the devil running back into the woods in fear. This is a great reminder of why we watch movies and why thrillers are named such. See it.” ~Michael Talbot-Haynes, Film Threat