Ooh this is such a tricky one.

On one hand I grew up where Jon Bell did, so I know exactly what he’s referring to. The setting(s), the people. I have spent large sections of my life on Bundjalung land and I am so familiar ceaseless colonialism which hasn’t changed at all. I’ve seen cops act like that — it might seem exaggerated but it isn’t. 

Want to know about exclusion and restraint deaths in the area? I can tell you. I can contextualise every choice Bell has made. I can also cringe at some of them.

I’m going to ruminate a lot longer before I write a proper review. If you’ve never heard of Bowraville then some of the references might…

unfortunately, a lot of international audiences don't seem to grasp how truly horrifying this is, despite the movie not being subtle in the least. the moogai quite literally starts out by explicitly telling the viewer that this is about the stolen generation, a disgusting and horrific part of australia's history (that it would much rather bury than acknowledge). it deals with the ongoing impacts of colonialism, intertwined trauma of 3 generations of women, and how systemic racism seeps into every aspect of first nations people's lives.

it can get a bit heavy handed in its approach, but that feels warranted considering too many australians feel comfortable saying this country isn't racist...lmao.

i've heard that the moogai was originally a short,…

Look, this is obviously coming from such a genuine and earnest place, but as a genre film — just a film, in general — this is sadly a bit of a misfire on most fronts.

Maybe some day another indigenous director will come along and better mine our country’s ugly, shameful history for a more effective allegorical horror film about the devastating impact of generational trauma in a colonised land, but today is not that day… 

On most technical levels this is pretty bad, I’m afraid. Stilted acting, unnatural-sounding dialogue, bizarre editing choices, the most rudimentary jump scare buildups. But, most egregiously, just don’t light your horror film as flatly as a glossy network television drama for the most part? Easiest…

Takes on some of the familiar set up and concepts that help The Babadook absolutely thrive, but unfortunately, The Moogai buckles under its own concept. The scope of this thing turns out to be pretty immense as it tries to tackle the literal folklore of the Moogai, loss of culture via adoption, generational trauma, the treatment of women post-partum, and the forced removal of Aboriginal children by the Australian government in the 1900s.

All these ideas floating around and in some regard they do intertwine into something cohesive. That cohesiveness is reliant on an understanding of the greater context though and for those outside of Australia, I’m not sure all that context and necessary inference is going to make its…