Okay this was a fucking revelation.

Within 15 minutes Jon Bell achieves so much more than many horror films do with a feature-length runtime. You have characters to root for, captivating thematic material, and of course, the scary stuff - drawn-out eery suspense and effective scares (although I did watch it at night wrapped in my blanket with the volume up). While the whole setup may seem pretty familiar, it is enriched by the fresh and relevant Indigenous perspective. I pray that this gets adapted into a feature-length film, but one that is done with the utmost care & originality that was put into this. But at the risk of that not being as good as this, I will accept this. And I eagerly await whatever Jon Bell has to offer next.

Absolutely chilling. The realisation of what the film is actually about in the final moments shook me to the core. To indigenous Australia what The Babadook was to grief. Meyne Wyatt should be a household name.

Good stuff, but i think i would go to a very public spot with the baby bcs maybe other people can help you protect him and not go to a creepy asf secluded road...

6.7/10

Vegan alert:
Full bodied chick comes out of egg cuts to frying on pan

It's almost every culture on earth has creatures who like to kidnap kids and babies. Mine called "Kuntilanak" or "Aru-aru"

i don’t like horror and this scared me so it did the job

I spent a good deal of my life on Bundjalung land. I know the area well. I also know about the massacres and the way Indigenous Australians are treated there.

Jon Bell’s effective stolen generations horror fable is spot on. The thing wants to make sure the parents are afraid. Vigilant. But confused, doubting their own sanity and competence. The thing wears them down into exhaustion and they make forced mistakes and then gets what it wants. The baby.

I cannot, cannot, cannot wait to see the feature. Fourteen minutes for one of the best horror shorts I’ve seen in ages. Please, sir. I’d like some more.

literally got full body chills when i saw the final shot and got the confirmation that this was about what it seemed to be about.

keep seeing the trailer for the feature length version of this at the cinemas and had no clue it was based on a short. pretty tense and unsettling. the ending (especially the meaning behind it) is horrific.

Simple yet quite scary. Like a good campfire story.