Go on, have a good look at the cover art for Storm Warning. Check out the rain slicker wearing, machete wielding nut job on the cover with the ominous meat hooks and chains behind him. Be sure to take it all in because it's the last time you're going to see such imagery. Yes, this is another case of eye-catching artwork having nothing to do with the movie within. Thankfully, this time though, what we do get isn't quite the generic slasher said illustration makes it look like, instead it's another Australian "hillbilly horror" that treads on the same ground as Wolf Creek - a fact director Jamie Blanks mentions in the commentary and proclaims that "we came first" since Everett DeRoche's script was written three decades prior.

Speaking of Blanks, the director of teen slashers Urban Legend and Valentine, he's returned to his homeland to helm this gritty effort and, not bound by the limits of Hollywood and the MPAA, he's come out with a movie that slings enough gore and brutality in the finale to go up against any modern horror flick.

Aussie Rob (Robert Taylor) and his French-born wife, Pia (Nadia Fares) are heading out to the countryside to spend the day on a sailing trip. They hope to go out and relax on the deep blue water and maybe catch a few fish along the way. Despite Pia wanting to turn back due to inklings of an upcoming storm, Rob wants to explore just a little bit further and he ends-up getting them lost in the middle of nowhere.

Luckily for them, they come across an old, rundown farm and after exploring the place, finding a ton of marijuana plants growing in the back shed, and trying to figure out their next move they find themselves in quite a pickle when the owners come home. The farm is the residence of two backwoods brothers Jimmy (David Lyons) and Brett (Mathew Wilkinson) and their father, who they simply call "Poppy", and it turns out their hosts aren't the most pleasant people in the World.

So far, so by-the-book. Which is really the biggest problem with the first hour of Storm Warning. DeRoche's script doesn't stray too far from the obvious clichés and set-ups and Blanks has a hard time trying to build any suspense when his baddies are virulent assholes from the get go. These guys start mean and never let up which saps a lot of the impact out of their actions - we expect them to do the things they do, so weren't not at all shocked when it happens. And while the movie does look the part being all grimy, dark, and rainy, for the first two-thirds it just feels like we're going through the motions.

But then the last half-hour kicks in and our asses get thoroughly kicked. As any horror fan can tell you, the last act of a movie such as this usually has our protagonists getting their revenge on their captors, but Storm Warning ramps things up to such an extreme and brutal level you can't help but sit up and take notice. If we're not marvelling at the "fish hook trap" moment we're too busy cringing when a sharpened drink bottle lid comes into play. Blanks and company make absolutely no apologies here and it's easy to forgive a pretty standard, and mostly uninspiring, first hour when the finale delivers the goods like it does. And, yes, the fact an Airboat plays prominently during these scenes is silly, but also delivers more splatter.

On the acting front, Fares and Taylor basically take a backseat to the trio of actors making up our redneck family. Fares' transformation from subservient to off-kilter has a few bumps but is generally okay while Taylor really doesn't bring much in the way of personality to his role. Lyons and Wilkinson play off each other fairly well as our nutty siblings but Lyons brings a lot more believable menace to Jimmy. Veteran actor John Brumpton also brings just the right amount of sleaze as the boy's abusive father.

Storm Warning is half-an-hour of awesome shoved into an 86 minute running time. I can't recommend you rush out and get this right now but if you happen to come across it playing on cable (or priced cheaper down the road) then you should just pick it up for the finale, it's that much of a doozy.

Review based on unrated version. (Chris Hartley, 2/4/08)

Directed By: Jamie Blanks.
Written By: Everett DeRoche.

Starring: Nadia Fares, Robert Taylor, David Lyons, Mathew Wilkinson.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: The transfer here is free of debris and grain but at the same time it looks pretty fuzzy at times and is generally grimy. I'm not sure if this was intended, I'm going to assume so, but it's not distracting enough to annoy you or anything.

Extras: There's really not a Hell of a lot here to check out as we get a trailer, teaser trailer, and a group commentary featuring director Blanks, writer DeRoche, co-star Taylor, and various others. I am not really a fan of tracks that have more than three people on board talking since I tend to lose track of who's saying what and this one is no exception. There's enough information given on the production to make it not a complete waste of time, I just wish it would have been a bit more intimate.