BLACK HEART, RED HANDS BY RUSSELL SOUTHAM
Directed by Russell Southam / Reviewed by Riya Saha
Black Heart, Red Hands directed by Russell Southam is set against the stunning backdrop of one of Australia’s World Heritage-listed National Parks; a first-time killer is about to learn what it really takes to pull off the perfect crime. Black Heart, Red Hands is perhaps the essential horror film, pitching murders one after another. But the question is whether the killer gets caught or not?
Why did the director choose such a title for his film “Black Heart, Red Hands”? A brilliant depiction of someone who is a serial killer, of course, he has a black heart to kill someone, and a murder surely has red hands. The movie has an Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil serial killer, and Russell Southam’s imagination of such a character is surely praiseworthy.
But what will keep Black Heart, Red Hands' in our memories is its thoroughly deranged villain, who dices, slices, chops and carves his victims with an interesting choice to help the trekkers, and relishes every second of his glory rampage through the film.
According to the director: “The film grew out of the idea of what if the place where someone goes to hide their crimes was, in fact, the same place currently being used by a far more experienced and cunning criminal mind. 
The opportunity to then twist a chance encounter into a well-crafted alibi for one at the expense of the other gathered momentum with two stories to explore. Setting the story in a large national park with hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of forest, hiking tracks, and camping spots seemed to offer up plenty of scope for a serial killer to operate while providing the opportunity to remain elusive.”
I believe writing and directing a Drama, Crime, and Thriller is all about dedication, and creativity. Suspense is all about psychology, one of the first things to consider when setting out for thrillers like serial killing is what kinds of expectations your story creates, so you can go about gratifying audience in surprising ways. Russell has successfully created the most satisfying mystery, thriller and crime story in his film and found a way to create a fresh, interesting, and original storyline.
Produced by Russell Southam (Little Big Film Company), Adam Spinks (Initiative Motion Pictures) the movie can get on your nerves and let you experience horror to the extreme. The actors were brilliant 6 youngsters who were out for trekking, and of course for fun. But this is a thriller and of course, they have to experience what’s not expected.
Black Heart, Red Hand exemplifies the evolution of thriller movies experimenting with different genres. This movie is very special as it is a sincere effort to bring to crimes together. For the first first-time audience will see a unique visualization where someone who came to hide his crime, meets with ferocious and hard to believe serial killer.
Serial killers have long been a grisly obsession for movie directors and cinema-goers alike. With that in mind, Russell Southam has smartly mixed up two stories that surely have a unique concept. Black Heart, Red Hand is surely one of the best serial killer movies ever made.
