Enjoy Some Cheap Aussie Fun With 'STUFFINGS' (2021)
This is cheesy, Australian, budget horror at its best. It comes across as the sort of movie that was rushed together between COVID lockdowns, with a budget of whatever money everyone had in their pockets. It is a great film for people who love their low-budget B-movies that look like they were a lot of fun to make.
Stuffings follows the trail of two YouTube personalities, Andy (Daniel Moody) and Bec (Kathleen Halligan), recently engaged and going on a camping trip near through the Alexander Hills region of South Australia. Little do they know that a nearby community are performing their Christmas tradition of collecting sacrifices to stave off a monstrous entity. What proceeds is a sort of black-comedy of errors, as the two protagonists bumble through the proceedings, trying to protect a would-be sacrifice, Hannah (Isabella Robinson). All the while the locals become increasingly desperate, as they screw up their own attempts to secure other sacrifices.
This just sums up Bec and Andy’s relationship
The characterisation and set design is a great example of really honest Australian stereotypes. Andy is the immature city-boy who is only concerned with their YouTube channel traffic, and expects his fiancé to handle everything else. Bec is city-girl who is finding she wants less pressure from running the channel and is increasingly tired of Andy’s immaturity and selfishness. The locals are all great, with a mixture of down-to-earth personalities and brutally honest attitudes.
Surprisingly, and compared to other extremely low-budget fair, the acting and script is actually quite good. Considering the cast are almost entirely amateurs, they manage to convey their conversations quite naturally and nothing is too tedious or over-explained. The sound design is the only serious downside. Half the scenes come through clearly, but the other half are different levels of muffled or muted.
The monster itself takes the form of the sort of creepy, makeshift Santa mannequin, which most Australian’s are familiar with. The basic principle of the Santa mannequin decoration being a Santa suit, stuffed with pillows, cushions and hay, tied to a broom handle, with a sack or pillow case for a head. These normally look pretty creepy on their own, especially with out how out-of-place they look in the middle of the Australian summer. The Santa monster has the addition of a deformed horror-face merged with its pillowcase hood. This does make it nicely creepy, while being laughably makeshift. Though because the whole production is really leaning into it being a low-budget B-movie, every appearance is thoroughly entertaining.
If you are in the mood for something light, fun and ultimately dumb, you could easily do worse. This had just enough relatability, clever wit, and honest love of film-making that I genuinely had a good time watching it and immediately tried to see if the creator, Mathew J. Wilkinson, had done anything else.
RATING: 6/10
WHERE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime.
