Bodymelt is a horror film project that he put together in 1993 in Melbourne which for some reason or another I've always had something of a mental block about. Perhaps it was the scathing reviews I read at the time criticising it's shoddiness or something but of course I should have realised that films like this don't generally review well in the mainstream.
Which is a shame as it is fantastic.
This is the blurb from IMDB
Residents of peaceful Pebbles Court, Homesville, are being used unknowingly as test experiments for a new 'Body Drug' that causes rapid body decomposition (melting skin etc.) and painful death.
The story is told well, spending enough time to get a feel for the characters but simultaneously keeping the action moving and the freakiness on the boil.
It ticks the boxes with the use of tried and tested horror staples (the country mutant family a particular favourite of mine) without being formulaic, there is a thoughtfulness and creativity in the use of gore that reminded me a little of David Cronenberg and his fascination with the body and while the effects (created by the Kiwi team that worked on Braindead) aren't necessarily that convincing they look cool nonetheless.
(Here are some examples of the gore style from YouTube)
The bulk of the story is set in a beautifully shot new-estate suburbia and it's nice to see that while some fun is made of suburban life and it's idealisation in mainstream media (ie Neighbours), Brophy doesn't take the attitude that "inner-city cool" filmmakers often do that suburbanites are mindless whitebread sheep leading lives of quiet desparation. The use of a number of popular actors from Australian soaps (Ian Smith - Harold from Neighbours, one of the Daddo's as well as "before-they-were-famous" Lisa McCune and William McInnes) in horror roles adds to the sense of play with the suburban ideal.
If you are familiar with Brophy's other work, it's nice to see his influences and interests come into the film - the use of (now-primitive looking) 3D modelling and computer voices and his electronic music score and stings - and it was great to see in the end credits that always interesting Melbourne art "identity" Maria Kozic was responsible for Art Direction, giving a unique look to the country mutant family's house in particular.
The performances are solid enough (although Daddo's probably shouldn't act - they are kind of Australia's answer to the Baldwins) and I also quite liked the editing. Shot selection and juxtaposition just had this extra bite for me some reason and everything really seemed to work well with everything else. (Call me a wanker about this if you will - the general rule of thumb is that you shouldn't notice the editing at all in a good film but having done a bit myself, you do pay attention).
If you don't mind a bit of horror with some art mixed in and some nice pointed commentary, check it out.
