Best Australian Killer Animal Horror Movies (2023)

Time and time again I see people asking for good killer animal horror movies to watch. Some films just keep getting mentioned (mostly by me). Australian animal horror movies are just as good as in any other country in the world and we have some cracking great cinema. Plus Australia is home to lots of great killer animals. If you want to take a look at horror from the land down under, this is a good place to start. Some are based on true events that happened here but most are just from within the minds of exceptional writers who were then lucky enough to score good direction as well.

Black Water (2007) Review

Killer Animal Horror Movies

Australia has crocodiles. Most of them are in Northern Queensland but there are also some in Northern Territory and Western Australia. I live in Northern Queensland and let me tell you, it’s not just the desolate outback that features these dinosaurs. I once lived in Townsville, they were known to swim at the beach and were often spottedswimming near kayakers and laying along the roadside.

Black Water’s crocodile footage got filmed in Darwin. The film eked out in the swampland of a business district in Sydney before being tacked together with specialized CG. It premiered in London at theFrightfestFilm Festival in 2007.

Is Black Water a Good Movie?

The movie tells the story of Grace, her husband Adam, and Lee, the younger sister who decides to go on a Mangrove tour and do some fishing. Their tour guide Jim takes them off course in search of a better game. When the boat they are in capsizes, they realize a crocodile has decided to join them but didn’t bring his fishing rod.

This film is tense. It’s one of my favorite killer animal horror movies and I have seen this at least a dozen times. It’s amazing that a movie featuring just a river, a few people, and an upturned boat getsused against its audience. It creates an atmosphere where fight-or-flight responses get tossed about with abandon.

• Directors and Writers: David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki
• Budget: $700, 000.
• Released: August 2007.
• Black Water cast includes Diana Glenn, Maeve Dermody, and Andy Rodoreda.

I give Black Water

4.5 humans for dinner out of 5.

Black Water Movie Trailer

Rogue (2007) A Giant Killer Animal Movie

Set in the Northern Territory inKakaduNational Park, a travel journalist, Pete, goes on a Crocodile watching tour. Spotting a flare in the distance and knowing it means someone is in trouble, a duty of care dictates they need to take a closer look.

When the boat sees a sunken wreck in the water something crashes into the hull and it begins to take on water. Seeing a tiny island in the middle of the river, they pull the boat upwhile deciding what to do next. Of course, the island is affected by the tides and everyone suspects that the land they chose as a safety net will eventually be underwater. And something is stalking them.

Is Rogue a True Story?

Rogue is based on a real crocodile known as Sweetheart. Although she never killed any people, she was 5.1 meters (16.7 feet) and was partial to attacking dinghies, fishing boats, and outboard motors.

I loved the Rogue movie. For computer graphics instead of special effects, this will cause you to say, “wait a minute, are you sure?” It’s pretty well done considering how it’s made.

• Director/Writer: Greg McLean.
• Budget: $25 million and made a meager $4.6 million.

I give Rogue

4.5Shlocky American Pete’s out of 5.

(Video) ENDANGERED SPECIES Trailer (2021) Killer Leopards Horror

The Reef (2010)

Written and directed by the same guy who did Black Water, AndrewTrauckifollowed up with ‘The Reef.’ A stellarnail-bitingshark movie filmed in Hervey Bay, Queensland a place I lived for over 8 years. It’s amazingly beautiful there. A littleseaside town… but oh boy are they shark-crazy there.

There is actually a guy (VicHeslop) who built a business usinghis perception that sharks are a massive threat and should all be culled. He has recently moved on after selling his famous frozen beast of a shark to some rich guy for a quadrillion bucks. I’d been to hisshowand it was extremely unimpressive.

But I digress, The Reef is fantastic. Again doing less is more, making having a bunch of people getting flung into the ocean after having their boat sink terrifying. How many are left at the end? Watch it and find out.

• Written by: Andrew Goods.
• Directed by: Andrew Traucki.
• Box Office: Made a truckload of cash.

I give The Reef

4.5dead floating turtles out of 5.

Stream The Reed on Shudder.

In 2022, this directed attempted a sequel to the classic misadventure in the ocean titled The Reef: Stalked. Find out what Mother of Movies thought about the newest shark movie.

Bait 3D (2012) Review

Are you getting the feeling we have some crazy dangerous animals in Australia? No, really we do, but I am sure sharks are present all over the world. They are also fascinating creatures. This movie has its faults but you know what? It’s good. Mother of Movies thinks this is one of the best shark movies to watch.

This film is not totally pure Australian cinema, this gets credited to Singapore as well.

The majority of the story takes place in a supermarket with a small backstory to introduce Josh (Xavier Samuel) involving prior brushes with sharks. The opening scenes are action, action, action just the way I like it. If you want to see a movie about sharks and see sharks then you will see sharks straight away. Some movies make you wait, but this doesn’t.

Best Australian Shark Attack Movie

More importantly, if you like disaster movies then Bait has you covered. There is a Tsunami which covers the city with lovely water so the lovely sharks have somewhere to roam about.

This film had a massive budget and still, there is some shady CGI in this but I don’t really care. Moreover, I like this film and I have watched it a few times. There are some great kills, awesome jump scares, and many other horror tropes that critics criticized over and over. It also has some underdeveloped characters and some predictable outcomes. But again, I like shark movies and I like them when the acting is solid. I came for the sharks and that’s what I got.

• Written by: Russell Mulcahy and John Kim.
• Directed by: Kimble Rendall.
• Budget: $20 million, made $32.5 million.

Bait 3D is rated

4 feisty supermarket sharks out of 5.

Long Weekend (1978) Review

This film has already had a remake in 2008 starringClaudiaKarvan. But even having some HD cinematic scenery and modernized filmmaking techniques didn’t lift it to where Iimaginedit could go.

The Long Weekend movie storyline concerns two lovers with issues deciding to take a camping trip with their dog. They disrespect nature in a myriad of ways and over the course of the film, nature decides to seek revenge. Sounds really cool right?

Actually what happens is filmmakers in both the original Long Weekend movie and remake manage to take the tension and throw it to the possums. I’m not saying a possum is unlikely to bite you from time to time, just as squirrels in the US are probably able to do. But possums, blue tongue lizards, and even Dugong are unlikely to raise the adrenaline if appearing as a single unit even if out to get you.

Working for the Weekend

This movie ends up being an almost advertisement for not littering and being mindful of the environment. I am glad I watched it though and the end sequence is by far the best part of the film.

As a horror movie nerd, I would love to see someone remake this and use other more fierce Australian animals likely to do some damage. Or take the ones already included and have them in bigger numbers. Then bring with it a more popular campground so that nature canchooseto pick off the ones that throw lit cigarettes into the bush and harpoon dugongs. But that’s just me.

• Budget: $270, 000.
• Director: Colin Eggleston.
• Writer: Everett De Roche, best known for Harlequin (1980), Razorback (1984), and Fortress (1985.)
• Both the writer and director are now passed away which is a bit sad.

The Long Weekend movie (1978) is rated

2.5killer possums out of 5.

RazorBack – Classic Australian Horror Movies With Animals

For a 1984 horror film about feral pigs that kill people, this was a really great surprise. Coincidentally,Cujowas releasedin 1983 and I couldn’t help but think of it a few times throughout watching this.Cujois by far, amuch betterfilm, withthe tension of a barbed-wire fence. There is something about feral animals on the loose that makes a good movie great.

The premise of Razorback doesn’t really hold up to modern times. The thought of kangaroos ‘going extinct’ is about as likely as bread landing buttered side up. Beth Winters (Judy Morris) has traveled from the USA to gather in-tell on kangaroo hunting, believing her animal activism will save the cute hoppy creatures. She learns the hard way that Skippy is not the issue in the outback town she settles in to cover her story. When she disappears, her husband comes looking for her.

Razorback has some issues with the narrative surrounding the slow pace at times. It’s also a little too long and there is a filler that it could have done without but overall it’s kitsch, strange, and weirdly watchable.

Should I Watch Razorback?

It’s a great tale of revenge against a giant rhinoceros-sizedrazorbackboar. It may have been better if more people got chaseddown by this human killing machine, but perhaps there were some budgetary issues in play. A lot of the effects used with buildings falling down and car chaseswere great. Maybe all their cash got spent on those parts.

When Razorback was released on DVD in 2005, it gotdescribed as “Jaws on trotters.”

But that scream coming from Jake Cullen (Bill Kerr) will haunt me for a while and also make me smile from time to time — it has that effect.

The Razorback movie is rated

2.5one-eyed kangaroo huntersout of5.

• Written by:EveretteDe Roche.
• Directed by:Russell Mulcahy.
• Budget:$5.5 million and only made $1 million.
• The Razorback cast hasGregory Harrison, Arkie Whiteley, and Bill Kerr.

Horror Movies With Killer Australian Animals Scary Movies

• (Crawl 2109)
• There’s Something in the Pilliga (2014)
• The Pool (2019)

Dishonorable Australian Animal Horror Movie Mentions:

The Pack(2015)This one went wrong on a few levels and I cannot in good faith recommend it. The original 1977 film, had better reviews. Wild dogs on the loose attempting to hunt and kill a family in a remote location should absolutely be an easy win. Somehow, they managed to stuff it up.

Dark Age (1987)is A crocodile movie that has some of the worst crocodile kill scenes I’ve ever seen. With wooden acting, and plastic immobile crocodiles. It also has a copycat scene too similar to the famous beach with a chomped floating boogie board in Jaws. I was very embarrassed this one came from Australia.