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DVD Daddy’s Little Girl
 Run time: 107 min Rating: 5.7 Genres: Horror | Thriller Director: Chris Sun Writers: Chris Sun Stars: Billi Baker, Michael Thomson, Allira Jaques |
| Storyline In a time when stranger danger is ever present, a single father learns that it’s the ones you trust most who have to be watched the closest. |
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| Details: Country: Australia Release Date: 8 January 2014 (Australia) |
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| Box Office Budget: AUD 500,000 (estimated) |
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4 comments
I became aware of this movie from a facebook campaign that required those on the fan page to come on IMDb and write favourable reviews… in saying that, it appears most of the 10 STAR reviews are simply friends of the cast and crew.
As an objective watcher I can tell you that the movie is worth watching, preferably with friends as the first hour is very very amusing. Firstly, the acting is laugh-out-loud cringe worthy; examples such as the facial expressions of some characters while talking on the phone or the 2 second pauses between character lines in dialogue made an episode of Home and Away look like "Schindler's List". Perhaps the two standouts were Billi Baker and Michael Thomson who did as best as they could in a world of awkward expositions and extras who are trying to edge their way in front of the lens as much as possible.
In looking at the technical side of the film, the editing could've used a lot more attention to detail. Issues such as the audio quality which is very poor and had an overshadowing score and ambient noises muffling out the dialogue in many scenes made it difficult to focus on what was being said. Also the final montage in the end credits moves too quickly to be appreciated.
The story itself is OK-ish but 2D characters, inexplicable outbursts, poor casting (the character of Derek's father looks the same age as Derek) story arcs that go no where (I mean what was with the cousin character??) and no real sense of the character's histories (it seems to be assumed knowledge for some reason) make it difficult for it to ever stand out next to other revenge genre flicks.
To summarise, this (much like "The Room") is on par with a very good highschool film & TV assignment with a higher budget, which has clearly gone ENTIRELY towards the special effects (which I admit were fantastic!), in watching it you will be reminded through every forced facial expression and line of dialogue that you are watching people act and will never be really absorbed in what's going on… so grab some friends and a pizza, have a laugh at the start, a cringe at the end and then put on your real movie for the night
2 Stars out of 10 – but don't just take my word for it, wait till the proper reviews start coming out
I came across this film whilst filing through the 'Thriller' category in my Apple TV, searching for a well-constructed story that throws twists out every so often. AKA, a thriller. However, I was far off with such a choice. This movie from the beginning was let down by its actors. Each character, but in particular Derek (Michael Thomson) and his brother Tommy (Christian Radford) sounded as though they were simply speaking their lines straight off the script. Certain words that were incorporated in normal, everyday conversation between characters such as "Mate" were spoken flatly and held no depth behind it. The scene where the brothers are sitting on the beach and Derek is meaning to fire Tommy from his job seems fake, weakened by the actors' poor performances. And the scene really is an easy and relaxed segment which should not be ruined, and is through lack of effort, or so it seems.
The film goes on to allow Derek's mind to become unhinged through pure hatred for his brother Tommy, to the point where Derek seeks advice on torture methods. He retrieves the information he wants by having colloquial conversations with the dentist and a few other people. This in itself is quite honestly pathetic and completely illogical that the audience is expected to believe that when put into practice by an amateur who has no knowledge of the human body or anything of the like, they would work. An enraged man conducting torture methods to attack the correct body part and keep the victim awake, alive, but still feel the pain, please. In addition to this, the film moves quite quickly through his search for information, which strips the film of its credibility and hardcore depth which I believe it aims to achieve.
Another thing I'd like to touch on is: the fact that Derek acquires so much hatred for his brother after finding Tommy's diary to the point where he does not allow Tommy to explain himself whilst being tortured happened far too quickly, I believe. I do not think that torturing him was a clever twist, let alone depriving him of his ability to explain things. Finding the diary was too-weak a point of reference alone, and should have been accompanied by stronger evidence for Derek to launch into murderous, gruesome torture. Not to say that finding a second batch of evidence would have made for a justifiable answer to perform measured, well-thought-out torture on his brother.
Finally, I am struggling to understand how this film is still standing with a solid IMDb rating of 7.4, and that there are reviews that praise the great acting and film work of Daddy's Little Girl. I can say without hesitation or second thoughts that it is one of the worst films I have ever seen, and I strongly recommend avoiding it.
The people giving this film10 out of 10 are clearly friends of/know of 'director' Chris Sun. Heck they may have even been actors who were in the damn thing.
This film is rubbish. Its worse than rubbish its just filth. A stain on the film industry. Daddy's Little Girl first popped on my radar a few days ago when I noticed its DVD cover art online.
I thought to myself 'wow that really reminds me of the Wolf Creek cover from a few years back'. I took it upon myself to do a bit of research into the matter.
After all of 2 minutes online i was able to find the Wolf Creek cover art. Daddys little girl is obviously trying to cash in on what was a far superior film every single way. A pithy and childish ploy to trick people into thinking this film will be of the same caliber (which it couldn't be in it wildest dreams). Further more while researching I came across an article in which Chris Sun actually talked about Wolf Creek! He mentions that it shouldn't be as celebrated as it is and that it falls upon his shoulders to create a true iconic slasher film for Australia…
What an absolute nut-case. Greg McLean is 10,000 times the director you are Mr Sun. You're a dreamer and a copycat trying to get as much attention on yourself as possible.
Pathetic, just like this film
Speaking of which, 20 minutes of horrible acting in the beginning isn't a counter balance to what quickly descends into an hours or so of torture porn. Saw and Wolf Creek this ain't.
Empty and boring characters. Woeful performances. No direction and a rush to get into showing as much horrible disfigurement of the human body as possible makes this an absolute stinker in my books. The filmmaker in charge obviously had little to no idea of how to make a film at all. Less is more, show don't tell Mr Sun.
Crashing a car is more entertaining than this. Not sure Australia can recover.
1/2 star out of 10
Considering this is a small budget Independent film, I like it. Special effects: excellent; Storyline: Excellent; Acting: Not the best!
I was expecting a B horror flick, but surprised to actually feel the father's grief, and need for retribution. The characters were predictable, and there was a few unnecessary parts and characters thrown in that went nowhere. More editing could've shortened the movie and made it flow more smoothly.
Overall I enjoyed the thriller/revenge theme mixed with the parent/child bond thing.Had the characters been more developed it could of even been called a tear jerker.
I'm interested to see more from this guy or even more horror/thriller films with an actual plot, like this one.