Interview with 'Lost Things' Director Martin Murphy

'The Horror' film festival is currently running at the ACMI at Federation Square in the city, showcasing all that we love about horror movies. But as has been seen in the past the movies that have stuck through generations like 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre', are ones that move away from Hollywood glamour and focus on just scaring the shit out of people.

One of the movies being showcased at this festival is 'Lost Things', by Australian director Martin Murphy. Set in the north of Australia, this movie has already received accolades all over the world, including the Sundance festival in the US. Martin was nice enough to share his opinions on a few things for us:

1. I read that you are "drawn to the genre of horror because it has the capacity to ask the big questions". What were you referring to- Was it death, life in general, meaning that things shouldn't be taken for granted or something more specific-

Marty: Horror films are often marginalised and written off as trivial or pornographic but a decent horror film can deal with concepts such as mortality, eternity, vengeance or simply what is fear- There are all sorts of philosophical questions raised by this genre. I'm also drawn to horror because I love having the shit scared out of me.

2. You also mentioned that you love the stories "that resonate in the midnight of my soul and make me a little spooked about a place that I might have otherwise taken for granted". Has this ever happened to you in real life, i.e have you ever been to one of those places-

Marty: When I was a teenager I had to undergo a series of operations on my leg due to a virulent infection I contracted from some minor surgery. It was a bad situation and I was confronted with stunning pain and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. The structure of drama works in a similar way. When the story turns for the worse it's a dramatic reversal. Surviving something like that changed my perspective on life and I don't know how it relates to what I do now really but it does still resonate in 'the midnight of my soul'. Horror and Thriller stories take me to a similar place I suppose. They are confronting and they demand your attention.

3. In your statement about 'Lost Things' you stated that the movie asks questions such as "Does our death have any meaning at all-" and "Can we survive a violent death spiritually-". What would your own personal answers be to those questions-

Marty: I am not spiritual but I do consider these as philosophical questions. I believe our death and the manner of our death has meaning to the world in which we have lived. An individual's passing may reverberate for years in the hearts and minds of the people he or she has known. A violent death can have a heavy presence for many years.

4. 'Lost Things' is set on a beach in the far North of Australia, where four teenagers who think they are going to experience a new freedom find out something completely different is afoot. The beach though, carries a stronger more iconic meaning for you, something that also struck a chord with me, with regards to Australian culture would you mind explaining-

Marty: Most Australians live on the coast. Metaphorically speaking we have turned our backs on the centre of the country. These are conservative times. We ignore reconciliation, we ignore our environment. We have a lot of sunshine so we can play in the sun for the moment. I don't know how long that can last. We won't share marriage with gay couples, we won't sign the Kyoto Protocol, we have signed away cultural independence with the U.S. Free Trade Agreement (they already have a 95% share of our film and tv - you can imagine how tough it is getting our film out to our own audience). I think we ignore our centre at our peril.

5. You spent a lot of time, it seems, working in TV, such as action sequencing amongst other things. Was it hard to give up such a role that seems to me to be a pretty good one in order to pursue yo Tags