Great horror movies and psychological thrillers come on like magic spells, pushing us into incantatory spaces where we kind of want to run for the hills while also knowing we won’t stop watching. Birdeater – a nightmarish Australian film about a buck’s party weekend in the bush that becomes a terrible cocktail of fighting, power plays, verbal grenades and druggy mayhem – exhibits full-on stylistic chutzpah, which I respect in some ways. But this production pushed me away much more than it pulled me in, ultimately leaving me aggrieved, withered and wondering what the point was.
