SWEET RIVER is Netflix's latest Australian horror-mystery. It's the kind of movie that could have been just as easily made in South Korea because it's very character-driven and has a strong pace from start to finish.

Perhaps it runs just a tad too long, but that's hardly something that ruins the overall experience. In Australia and New Zealand now the movie is out on Netflix. It should be published in the rest of the world by 2021.

The basis of this horror movie is a woman searching for her missing son. The plot thickens when we learn that a serial killer of children has been discovered. However, he killed himself immediately after being caught (or rather, before they got him in custody) and this woman’s son is still missing.

It’s never really a question of whether her son is still alive. She never believes that he is, but she needs to find him. Of course, she does. Who wouldn’t need this in order to get any kind of closure.

That’s why the mother, Hanna, moves to the town where the serial killer lived (and died). However, she soon discovers that many children have died in this town and the people living there have a very different kind of relationship with death than what you’d expect.


The cast of Sweet River

I was familiar with some of the actors in Sweet River but definitely not all of them. Also, many of them looked quite different since this movie plays out in a rural Australian town, where the farming of bamboo is the one thing they have going for them.

Lisa Kay stars as Hanna, the mother searching for her son. She’s a clean edge kind of person, who listens to self-help audiobooks when she arrives in this small town. However, she quickly begins succumbing to virtually every substance that can numb her senses. Lisa Kay has been in most of the huge long-running Australian series including Neighbours and Home and Away.

The other main character in Sweet River is John Drake who is portrayed by Martin Sacks. You may know Martin Sacks from the prison series Wentworth. Also in a key role is actor Eddie Baroo (Black Sails) who is the co-writer of this movie.

Do check out Sweet River when you can!

Justin McMillan is the director of Sweet River with Eddie Baroo and Marc Furmie as screenwriters. This is the first feature film from Justin McMillan and a damn fine one. Previously, McMillan has directed both short films and documentaries, so he’s hardly new to directing.

As mentioned earlier, screenwriter Eddie Baroo is also in this movie (as the bus driver). He also co-wrote the 2012 horror movie Crawlspace (not to be confused with the 2017 movie), so he’s been acting and writing for some time. In fact, he’s also a singer, so he’s a bit of a jack of all trades.

If you like your horror movies to have plenty of mystery and drama (and some supernatural elements as well as a serial killer), then Sweet River should hit your sweet spot.

Sweet River is out on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand from December 5, 2020. It will also be out in the US via Gravitas Ventures in April 2021.