“Anyone walking their dog at 4am is clearly a sociopath.”
GIRL AT THE WINDOW
2022/85m
“Fear thy neighbour.”
Director: Mark Hartley / Writers: Terence Hammond, Nicolette Minster / Cast: Radha Mitchell, Ella Newton, Karis Oka, James Mackay, Vince Colosimo, Andrew S. Gilbert, Sharon Johal, Lachie Millar, Lauren Goetz.
Body Count: 5
Laughter Lines: “They should honestly question the dog walker. Anyone walking their dog at 4am is clearly a sociopath.”
Moderate spoilers. A teenage girl applies some makeup, feeds some coins into the slot of a photobooth and prepares to look hot. Over her shoulder, a dead body is stashed at the back of the booth, one eye gouged out.
Six months later, that girl’s best friend, Amy, slowly getting over the accidental death of her father and suffering from claustrophobia because of it, keeps a diary of the movements of her and her mom’s neighbour/love interest, Chris. He takes his van out in the early hours and returns a couple of hours later. Creepy.
But the Clockwork Killer, who has laid to waste six local teens, hasn’t struck in half a year. When a necking couple in a lovers lane are attacked, the boy is found dead, but the girl is missing, taken by the wacko for further experimentation in a grubby cellar someplace.
Amy becomes convinced Chris is the maniac after hearing screams in the night, but neither her mother, nor the cops believe her, chalking it all up to PTSD and an overactive imagination. But both she and we have seen Disturbia, so some Scooby Doo’ing of his property winds up with her locked in the back of his van…
This Australian export is more thriller than slasher, with the Zodiac-type killer only laying to waste three victims for the runtime, and a significant lack of suspects meaning that when the identity of the loon is revealed about halfway through, it’s entirely unsurprising. Like, Cherry Falls level unsurprising.
Girl in the Window toys a little with dark Aussie humour, which is funny in places, most of which stemming from Oka as Amy’s sarcastic best friend, but also leaves the film unevenly rocking back and forth without a real sense of belonging. Nicely polished, but a little underbaked.