Don't listen to the negative reviews

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Based on true events, this Australian drama details the friendship that an Adelaide teen sparked with a neighbour who went on out a vicious killing spree. Daniel Henshall is excellent as the charismatic serial killer with scary moody swings; he has several intense moments as he passionately talks about killing and maiming homosexuals and child abusers while ruing how nobody takes vigilante action against such individuals. With this stance clear early on, 'Snowtown' follows a logical progression as Henshall begins acting on his own words in increasingly brutal ways. Meanwhile, the teen protagonist is torn between wanting to support his new surrogate father and being disgusted by his vile actions. Bits and pieces of this dynamic feel under- cooked; the teenager never changes very much throughout despite becoming more complicit in the murders. Establishing a stronger link between Henshall's hates and his victims' deaths would have also made him easier to understand. By all accounts though, the real killer's motives are still the subject of debate, so the vagueness is arguably appropriate. Whatever the case, the movie features some of the most grueling torture scenes ever filmed, plus it spins a resonating tale of a teenager whose nightmarish, abused home life becomes even more of a nightmare when he reaches out to the one adult in his life who he thinks he can trust.

A true crime story is always intriguing but this beauty goes beyond. If that's your thing, like it is mine to watch all those documentaries on serial killers, this movie will melt you in your seat. The way the layout of this movie is conveyed it just makes you want more to happen you want to know more. The actors in this movie each suited the role they played and were all perfect. There isn't one thing about this movie I'd change, in fact I could sit here and watch Snowtown over and over because each time I watch it I pick up something new,It's a must see movie, I would recommend this to anyone especially if you liked Chopper (2000). This is portrayed in a very similar way.

SNOWTOWN is a true-life story about a serial killer and his associates who were prevalent in Australia during the 1990s. A low-key production that goes for gritty realism above everything else, the film this most reminded me of was HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER; it has the same level of harrowing and distressing subject matter while being incredibly powerful at the same time.SNOWTOWN isn't quite up there on a level with HENRY - there are a few too many scenes of people sitting around and eating for a start - but it is an undeniably effective movie. The casual brutality of the movie will make this hard to sit through for many viewers, with the scene involving the dog being particularly gruelling; meanwhile, the bathtub sequence is one of the nastiest I've ever witnessed. Aside from these moments, the rest of the movie is surprisingly restrained, a slice-of-life exploration of how 'white trash' get on with their lives.The acting is fine, particularly from Daniel Henshall in a star-making performance, and the script is very good. I wish there had been a little more resolution at the end but then you can't have everything. SNOWTOWN is about as far away as you can get from a mainstream Hollywood movie and it's all the more effective because of that. And I'll reiterate how incredibly grim it is: would I sit through it again? Not a chance!

I don't get what you people like about this film. I went to a film festival a few years ago to see it with a friend. We both watched it and after one hour left the cinema. There was no point in watching any longer. It really didn't make much logic so I don't recommend it to anybody. We waited and waited for something interesting to happen or anything to come together but that was not the case. You kind of get the idea at the start of the movie, but it's kind of downhill from there. And I did not get what was so shocking about this film. There is nothing good about it. Not in my view. But hey, everybody has a way of looking at things.