CRUSH (MA)

Starring Chris Egan, Emma Lung

Directed by John Soto, Jeff Gerritsen

3 stars

The latest in a spate of Australian genre flicks to hit cinemas is this paranormal thriller from writer John Soto. Pitched squarely at a late-teen market, it joins Beautiful and Acolytes in an attempt to put the wind up youthful audiences.

While eschewing the bitter cruelty of gore-fests like Saw, Soto seeks a slow creep before the one-two finale punches his film home.

Appropriately, it opens at a taekwondo match where aspiring champ Julian (Kings’ Chris Egan) gives his opponent a good thumping. The big match is looming and with assignments due by the end of the week, he has reasons to ‘stay focused’. Which means he won’t.

When a luxurious mansion comes up for house-sitting with curvaceous Anna, the owner’s niece, in situ, trouble can’t be far behind.

Despite troubling lapses of internal logic that include dream states and a family photo, plus under-written, poorly acted support, Crush delivers most of what it sets out to do.

A busy soundtrack enhances the experience (itself a rarity) while muscular production and the eye-candy appeal of Egan and Lung (the film’s biggest asset) push proceedings a notch or two above similar movies.

It’s not like there’s anything particularly new here, yet it’s all handled with enough flair to make the popcorn experience worthwhile.