Watch Tomboys For Free

the audience applauded

Simply Perfect

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

TOMBOYS is a dreadful indie horror flick from Australia. It's posited as a grindhouse throwback wannabe torture porn movie but it's nothing like that at all. All you get is a single dark location with five female cast members whose faces are shot in close-up. They converse for the entire running time in dialogue which is as dull as it is extraneous. It's obviously going for some psychological head-spin approach but the result is a film that'll bore you to tears.

I do think this movie is funny in some respects. The goth girl tries to calm the girl down who is brandishing a knife. In any other horror movie like this the goth girl would be egging her on or she would be the one with the knife herself, but this is an Australian movie, so maybe that cliché is upside down.I have no idea how this cost one million dollars to make, the lighting is very poor indeed and the colour is almost-but-not-quite monotone particularly at the beginning. I don't think this is by accident or by the use of poor equipment but rather to create an appropriate atmosphere.By the 14th minute of the movie one of the girls, who are torturing a serial rapist, cut his manhood off (naturally), and you think how could this possibly get worse for him? But then, in a nice plot twist we find out they have castrated the wrong guy! Or have the really? One of the girls tries to explain that he also sexually assaulted her, a story which is dismissed by most of the other girls thinking she is just trying to protect the ring leader, Kat.The only thing that really let this down was the boring scenes with the girls arguing among themselves, and I did question why they brought that girl Imogine along. Surely they would know if she was a bit of a wimp and might rat them out? This rape revenge movie is unlike any other than it ends up in a tense police stand off, where the character 'Kat' hangs herself! It is truly a wonderful, imaginative and creative movie. It is only 72 minutes long and gets straight to the good stuff without some boring 'let's get to know the characters and their background' intro.

Tomboys" - or perhaps "She Devils" would be a better title, is ultra-low budget, basically a play and could be adapted as such. It begins with two young women dragging a man into a garage; he has a bag over his head, and has clearly been rendered senseless. He is strung up, and the rest of the group arrive. A serial rapist is about to get his just deserts, big time, like one of them hacks off his penis, and he bleeds to death. Then another of them receives a phone call, somebody is looking for her. Who might that be? Yes, you guessed right - rule one, before you kidnap a serial rapist and murder him, in fact before you put the bag over his head, make sure you've got the right guy. Better still, if you are the victim of a crime of violence, report it to the police at once. That sound advice excepted, the group are now faced with a fait accompli; obviously they are not going to turn themselves in. What then? Is this film feminist propaganda, a revenge fantasy, or proof that under the wrong circumstances women can become just as depraved as men? As it was apparently conceived by a man, the patriarchy will get the blame whatever. Those of a squeamish nature should give this a miss, men especially. Along with anyone else who can think of a less unsavoury way to waste 79 minutes.

Written and directed by Nathan Hill, this Australian movie is a throwback to the good old grindhouse movies, where language, violence and gore are part and parcel of the entire package, and Tomboys go to great lengths in keeping to that look and feel, keeping the visuals grainy, the camera-work shaky, and who can not miss those huge character titles that come on to introduce each of the leading ladies, the titular tomboys, who have gathered in a barn to execute (pardon the pun) their dastardly plan.But of course to the group of five, it is nothing more than to exact revenge for the cruel sexual assaults caused by their tormentor, now masked and bound and strung up within a barn, ready to be met with his just desserts. It's trouble five times over with vengeance on the mind of these ladies, especially that of the unofficial ringleader Kat (Candice Day) who masterminded the kidnap and having her posse of female chums gathered to witness and partake in the exercising of their inner demons brought forth by the serial rapist of their town.You may think this is a simple open and shut case, with a plain narrative that details the many torturous techniques that the girls want to put the serial rapist under, given the deliberate shot of many types of tools available to inflict punishment, and a fridge stocked with cold beer while at it. But here's where Nathan Hill had a lot more hidden up his sleeves. The story tosses up many twists, turns and surprises along the way, which provides opportunity for all of the actresses to showcase their acting chops, since the events that unfold mostly through talk, will call upon shifting loyalties and dynamics within the group.While everyone's supposed to work toward a common goal, having these unplanned events thanks to Murphy and other emotional baggage that the girls kept hidden from one another, takes a toil on their supposedly chumminess at the beginning of the film. It dwells upon one's threshold of "justice", in just how much is enough, and in a group there will always be the risk takers always wanting to push boundaries, and those who prefer to stay within their comfort zones, especially when the time calls for covering up of their tracks, and internal bickering and betrayals. Having to witness this played out to perfection, is one of the highlights of the film.Set in just one locale, the modestly budgeted Tomboys belong to the genre of films that sets its own challenge of engaging an audience without the luxury of transcending space, and the tight narrative helped the convincing performances of its cast members, helped to make this one heck of a morality tale, with the grindhouse gimmick being the icing on the cake.