Girl at the Window

Director: Mark Hartley
Starring: Radha Mitchell, Ella Newton, Vince Colosimo, James Mackay
Distributor: Kismet Unit Trust
Runtime: 88 mins. Reviewed in Aug 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc

| |

Rating notes: Strong themes and violence

A serial killer in Ballarat, a student traumatised by the accidental death of her father, nightmares, mental condition, suspicions about her neighbour.

This is a low-budget thriller led by the strong Australian cast – Mitchell as a mother, Newton as the disturbed daughter Amy and Colosimo as the suspicious neighbour. It is a story about a serial killer and abductions.

Some years ago, this film’s director, Mark Hartley, made an award-winning documentary about small-budget Australian horror films and thrillers, Not Quite Hollywood (including commentary from Quentin Tarantino). Hartley was exploring the Australian film industry and the range of films which could be described as “schlock-horror”. These are the kinds of thrillers that used to be shown at drive-ins, were popular with groups watching them on television and, later, on streaming. It is interesting to note the definition of schlock-horror: a genre of low-budget horror films characterised by sensational plots and lurid special effects.

Which means that Girl at the Window needs to be reviewed with an understanding of the genre and its conventions. It is not meant to be a classy, well-thought-out psychological drama with a crime, clues and detection. Rather, it is presented as over the top, situations, characters, reactions, and the touch of grisly murders.

Girl at the Window works rather well at this level – which does not mean that this is a recommendation for everyone to see it. Rather, fans of such films will probably find it above average of its kind.

There is the advantage that it was filmed in Ballarat, with some fine views of the city and the surrounding bush. The focus is on a young girl, bereft at the accidental death of her father, mentally disturbed, blaming herself, yet going to school and studying. She and her mother have moved from the city out to the bush and its abandoned mines area.

Amy has nightmares, imagines people present, acts on her suspicions of the neighbour as if she were paranoid Nancy Drew – with some dire consequences.

There is a twist at the middle, a revelation about the mysterious serial killer, some scenes of peril involving her mother and schoolfriend, interventions by detectives.

So, for its limited audience, a pastime movie entertainment in the schlock horror vein – and an immediate candidate for Mark Hartley’s sequel, Not Quite Hollywood 2.