The Moogai

2024

Horror

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 50% · 40 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 50%
IMDb Rating 5.3/10 10 734 734

based on short film depressing

Director

Jon Bell Photo
Jon Bell

Top cast

Bella Heathcote Photo
Bella Heathcote as Becky
Nicholas Cassim Photo
Nicholas Cassim as Martin
Alexandra Jensen Photo
Alexandra Jensen as Miss Miller
Fiona Press Photo
Fiona Press as Nurse Sullivan
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
768.83 MB
1280*536
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 23 min
Seeds 16
1.54 GB
1920*804
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 23 min
Seeds 21

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Kademan-02092005 6 / 10

Dreamtime horror

The Moogai is a decent folk horror film that is consistently interesting in its exploration of Aboriginal myth, but never beyond a purely cultural level.The fast pacing keeps the story constantly moving and engaging, mostly distracting from feeling like a basic folk horror as it speed runs through recognisable tropes and clichés. The acting from the cast is decent, with the more impressive performances coming from the three generations of strong female leads Tessa Rose, Shari Sebbens and Jahdeana Mary. The creature design is unique enough to stand apart from the average-looking demons that tend to dominate the sub-genre, the Indigenous cultural exploration is compelling enough as a thematic device, and the usage of lighting and cinematography is effective enough.However, the fast pace makes the story wildly rushed in order to get to certain plot points quicker; character decisions, emotional beats, and looming threats barely get time to be established or seeded before they are brought out into full effect. No time is wasted even if a break or two should have beneficially been inserted to break it up and build a level of comfortability to be broken later by some properly constructed tension. Because of this the film is also not effectively scary, with the creature being shown quite clearly whenever it shows up which detracts from its threatening presence. Moreover, the themes are established but fumbled several times, never truly feeling fully realised in the messaging of the stolen generation where more could have possibly been done towards the emotional divide Sebbens' Sarah feels towards her two culturally clashing lives and especially Tara Morice's underdeveloped character, Annette.Overall, The Moogai is an average movie that is certainly not predictably bad. It is, however, not very memorable in its tame and undercooked execution.
Reviewed by NYCsOwnPiTO 6 / 10

Excellent movie because of what it represents. Never knew these events took place in Australia.

This is an excellent movie. I thought it could've been a lot better if it had a bigger budget. It had a ton of potential. Given a better distribution company this movie could've been a classic hit. It gave me vibes of the Babadook, but just an Australian version. I never knew these events took place in Australia, so this was my way of finding out. I really wish this movie would have gotten picked up by a bigger label. The editing was not great, but it's to be expected because it was an Indie horror. I can totally overlook that because of the fact that the storyline was so great. Regarding symbolism it was a 10 out of 10. The only reason I gave it six is because the editing wasn't all that great and they kind of rushed a little bit but again understandable.
Reviewed by fatfil-414-451797 5 / 10

Should Have Been Better

I'm a big fan of Australian horror movies, they produce some superb films, often on a limited budget. This one seemed to lose it's way a little bit. There are some great moments that are truly creepy, but then in the last third it takes a dramatic turn and delves more into the Aboriginal dream time. The two halves of the movie are both interesting and have some fine moments, but it just felt disjointed.
Read more IMDb reviews

4 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment