6 Plots (2012)★★★★☆

I liked this movie more than I should probably admit. I haven’t found too many Australian horror films that I can get into, but this one was engaging from the beginning and didn’t let up throughout. Sure, it’s your average “I’d like to play a game”-type slasher film, but it’s above average in two ways: the acting, and the music.

I was surprised and impressed with the acting talents of the main characters (though, to be fair, it probably wasn’t much of a stretch for them to play rowdy teenagers), and especially impressed with each of the actors chosen for the smaller parts the adults played. The cast had good chemistry and their actions and reactions were, on the whole, believable, which is key to keeping me entertained (and scared).

As for the music… I’ve found that in many mediocre horror movies, music is used to evoke feeling in the viewer that hasn’t been earned — highly suspenseful music played during what seems to be an innocuous scene without any reason for the viewer to be in suspense…fast, jarring music played just before the climactic moment, rather than punctuating it. 6 Plots, however, is background music done right. It’s suspenseful only after the viewer is already feeling a slight unease, and jarring only in perfect time with the climactic moment.

So despite the fact that I thought “6 Plots” meant this would be an anthology of sorts (it’s not that kind of plot), I genuinely enjoyed it.