It’s fitting that the Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, October 19-30) runs right up to Halloween, because the grand dame of cinematic showcases in South Australia has always had one eye on the darker side of life. It’s where Snowtown, Justin Kurzel’s staggering serial killer story that haunts the city, had its Australian premiere. As did Jennifer Kent’s follow-up to her box office monster The Babadook, the Van Diemen’s Land-set nightmare The Nightingale.
‘It gives a more scientific edge to the horror,’ Lahiff says. Carnifex translates literally to ‘butcher’ and was the colloquial name for an executioner in ancient Rome. He loved the idea of a hulking terror from above stalking the tree canopy. ‘Gena quite eloquently said that Carnifex does for the forest what Jaws did for the water.’
