Michael Ledo
Jessica Willis (Lisa Chappell) is crazy about having a baby. Having not yet conceived, her husband Robert (Robert Taylor) gets a sample of would be swimmers for testing. Evan (Sam Parsonson) is the receptionist at the clinic, the only person in town crazier than Jessica. Robert gets his results back, but never opens the letter. Neither he nor Jess know the results.After a fight, Jessica gets drunk and has an indiscretion with Evan, one she tries to stop after he was at the point of no return. Of course now Jessica is with child...one she doesn't want to keep. Evan really really wants to be a dad.Things become tense and crazy. The acting was decent for what it was. None of the characters were likable.Guide: F-word. Sex. No nudity.
Rosser94
I had low expectations of this film after reading a multitude of negative reviews, however these expectations were outdone by my viewing experience of "Coffin Rock".This movie is, essentially, an Aussie equivalent of "Fatal Attraction" that is, admittedly, of a lower standard. Yet, despite this, the films practical, realistic style gives it a sense of originality that ensures it is not something you have witnessed on-screen before (through the many "Fatal Attraction" clones that exist).In addition to this, the acting is solid; I don't consider the cast to be particularly spectacular, however I couldn't negate any of the performances given. Sam Parsonson, in particular, contributes strongly to the movie's overall solidity, as he takes on a crucial, challenging role with clear-cut confidence.Furthermore, I felt that the pacing of this film was spot-on, therefore an unoriginal plot was executed well. Having said that, the fact the plot is unoriginal does not suggest that this film is not worth watching if you have seen similar movies already; the Aussie characters and location give it a distinctive style and there are some fresh ideas thrown in to make this film very individual.Whilst many positives are evident for this movie, I did feel that, despite a fresh overcoat, the core plot is an overused one in cinema, therefore major film fans may feel slightly unexcited by "Coffin Rock". Furthermore, whilst the acting is solid and pleasing given the unspectacular cast, it is not memorable. Also, the entire movie left me feeling negative about Australian people; they seem to be conveyed as uncivilised, emotionally trivial and generally a bit difficult to relate to, which I am sure is inaccurate to reality.Overall, "Coffin Rock" has an unfamiliar, unorthodox style but is, ultimately, only worth a watch if you believe you will enjoy a solid, if not fantastic or entirely original horror/thriller.
whipthedog
I must admit that there was a time when I took the unfortunately wide held view that all Australian movies were crap. I avoided them like the plague.For me Hollywood was king. Big budgets, big stars, big special effects, bigger explosions. One day I was in the local Video Ezy and saw a Cate Blanchett movie called Little Fish. I did not even know that Cate made an Australian movie until I put it in the DVD player. Wow, what an experience. Low Budget, local actors, no special effects , no Hollywood BS. Just gritty, believable, local storytelling. From that day forward I have watched nothing but Aussie films.I found Coffin Rock to be superb. As for being predictable, we are all just guessing as to what happened after the final scene. Everything about the movie is excellent. The storyline, the acting , the direction. I must admit that cheating wife movies are not amongst my favorites, but this was handled thoughtfully, and it did not make me want to throw the DVD at the wall.
dschmeding
"Coffin Rock" starts out pretty interesting and slow. A couple unable to get a child and building up some relationship problems because of this goes to an Invitro Clinic to try solving their problem. The man gets his sperm tested but unfortunately the woman catches the attention of a strange young guy working at the clinic. The guy decides to follow the woman and make her fall in love with him and this is the first point the viewer wonders about motivation because it seems pretty random and is barely hinted at. The guy, Evan, follows the couple to their home in Coffin Rock where he starts working in a cray business and lives in a trailer just to try to get near the woman.From here on you pretty much know where its going... the woman gets in a one night stand with Evan after having trouble with her husband who is afraid to read the results of his fertility test and starts acting strange. The woman immediately regrets her drunk misjudgment and realizes that Evan is a little coo-coo and clingy... but to top it off the next pregnancy test is positive. From here its kind of like the Horror Version for "Fatal Attraction" with the roles reversed. The man gets to know about the pregnancy and starts celebrating while his woman is busy trying to hide the truth. Of course Evan gets stranger and invades the privacy of the couple until everything leads to disaster."Coffin Rock" builds up tension with moody music, beautiful landscape shots and the slow rising dread around Evan whose past is hinted at in obscure telephone calls to his dad. The acting is superb and helped a lot to get the viewer through the first hour of the movie which is taking damn long for the plot to unfold. Problem is that there is now reward for the viewers patience. The more Evan shows his maniac face the more ridiculous the movie gets and at all times its pretty tame on the violence. Its pretty obvious that "Wolf Creek" was an influence on the lingering dread and atmosphere, the depiction of a kind of cynical and at times joking madman and of course the dozens of cool landscape shots. Anway this movie falls flat because most of the things Evan does are stupid and you are left in the dark about his motivation to follow right this woman and his strange fixation on her child. Except for some fast flashbacks to his dad who of course is dead by now nothing is clear. If you think that around 80 minutes you saw a lot of ludicrous scenes just wait for the finale because they really went overboard with Hollywood clichés there. The last 20 minutes of the movie seem so incredibly forced and yet still as boring as the opening of the movie I really wonder what happened. If you like moody slow thrillers watch "Coffin Rock" for 70 minutes and leave the rest to your imagination. The acting of Evan and the lead woman is great and the creative cinematography and music are also pretty good but the plot is a total mess and pulls everything down.