NOW ON TUBI! The last place on Earth has never looked so good as it does in the spellbinding crime thriller Home Kills, written and directed by Haydn Butler. Tom (Cameron Jones) and Mark (Josh McKenzie) have moved back to the rural green Hell in New Zealand that they sprang from, mostly because they f****d it up where they were. They certainly don’t have any fond memories of the place, mostly due to the abuse they suffered at the hands of their dead farmer dad. However, on the rotting farm, the old man leaves behind an expensive industrial meat grinder, which is a way the two trained butcher brothers can make a living.
“The brothers get a really shady butchering job in exchange for some of the meat…so bad it makes them worried they will get snapped by the law.”
They need it, as Mark is newly missing two fingers from a hand, and Tom’s partner Anna (Mavournee Hazel) is pregnant. However, work is scarce out there so far in the country, and the brothers are also in debt to local crime lord Woods (Stefan Dennis). The electricity is out on the farm, and everything is broken. So when the brothers get a really shady butchering job in exchange for some of the meat, they have to take it to survive. The job turns out worse than they could possibly imagine, so bad it makes them worried that they will get snapped by the law. Meanwhile, the local constable, Officer Rhys (Dahnu Graham), gets ready for a busy day of crime fighting while his housemates do gravity bongs. He has to take it easy on them as they are his old classmates. So is Tom, who is back in town. His brother Mark just keeps f*****g up, though…
It boggles the mind that the most isolated places in this world are also the prettiest. I grew up on an island in Maine that is one of the top summer tourist destinations in the country. People swear it was beautiful, while it made me feel inadequate and almost made me drink myself to death. The distance between you and any chance of getting somewhere else seems much longer in these types of places. Home Kills perfectly captures the breathtaking desolation of the most gorgeous end of the line you have seen. Cinematographer Alexander Jenkins gives us one brilliant visual composition after another, contrasting the lush rolling green hills with shards of blistered paint of rural decay.
"…one brilliant visual composition after another..."
