Ken Jaworowski of The New York Times , in a negative review , observed that the film " features a man and a woman who make head-slappingly dumb choices ... in the end , the most regrettable decision may be that of audience members who fork over money to see the movie . ' He was critical of the tone and content of the film : " ... two plots ... intertwine and , after a lengthy intro , move toward some revolting cruelness " ; " Damien Power , who also wrote the script , cites ’70s “ survival thrillers ” as his inspiration ... this movie has the hallmarks of torture porn : gratuitous slaughter , remorseless murderers and gruesome acts . " Kimber Myers of the Los Angeles Times more positively concluded the film to be " an effective indie creeper that unnerves the audience with its all-too-realistic violence . " Jim Schembri of 3AW gave a positive review , writing " The old scary movie convention about something bad going on in the woods gets an inventive , chillingly effective makeover in the outstanding debut film from Tasmanian writer/director Damien Power ... An accomplished , edge-of-the-seat thriller . " Jake Wilson of The Age ( Australia ) wrote " For a first feature , '' Killing Ground '' is highly accomplished . " Luke Buckmaster of '' The Guardian '' wrote , " '' Killing Ground '' combines great aesthetic elegance - including beautiful cinematography and naturalistic editing - with an acrid , lingering foulness , derived from knife-edge performances and a terrifying premise executed with airtight verisimilitude . " Chris Evangelista of / Film wrote a similar review , writing " The true highlight of '' Killing Ground '' is the editing , courtesy of Katie Flaxman , which weaves together the multiple narratives in a concise manner . " Lucy Randall of 4:3 gave a negative review , writing " While '' Killing Ground '' may prove a solid stepping stone for its director in terms of the Hollywood marketplace , the film itself is unlikely to be remembered in the oeuvre to which it speaks . " Craig Mathieson of '' The Sunday Age '' wrote " The terror for the audience is blunt and bludgeoning , but conversely Power is an accomplished stylist who adroitly keeps the camera on the edge of increasingly bad expectations . " '' Killing Ground '' was nominated for Best Sound at the 7th AACTA Awards
7th AACTA Awards
7th AACTA Awards
Killing Ground (2016 film)