Film Review: Skeleton Girls. A Kidnapped Society (2025) - Australia
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia)
I rated it 7/10
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A Neon Nightmare Where the Underground Still Breathes Fire - Australian Director Richard Eames doesn’t so much direct “Skeleton Girls. A Kidnapped Society” as unleash it. Described aptly as a "digital hardcore Wizard of Oz fable," this jagged, pulsating debut feature feels less like a movie and more like a transmission hacked straight from the fractured id of our terminally online, polarized era. It’s a film that wears its DIY punk heart on its ripped, neon-soaked sleeve, offering a raw, defiantly messy, and occasionally brilliant sensory blitzkrieg that earns its rating precisely because it refuses to play nice.
Our Dorothy is Anna Kaiser, a runaway played with feral intensity by Alla Malakhitova. She doesn’t follow a yellow brick road; she plunges headfirst into the digital-physical sewer known as the "Rat Nest," a Perth underworld rendered in eye-searing colors, glitchy animations, and the relentless throb of Steven Alyian’s score – a glorious cacophony featuring local Perth bands that acts as the film’s bruised, defiant heartbeat. Anna’s quest? Less about finding home, more about survival and revelation in a society Eames posits as already kidnapped: by media overload, algorithmic fracturing, and pure, unfiltered noise.
The Savage Aesthetic - Eames embraces a "cut and paste" ethos with thrilling conviction. Live-action collides with jarring "agitprop animations," colors bleed and clash like open wounds, and the camera feels like it’s vibrating with the same nervous energy as its characters. This isn't just style; it’s the film’s “language”. It successfully drags the tactile grit of punk into the digital age, creating a truly mind-melting visual experience. You feel the texture of this world in your teeth.
The all-Western Australian ensemble delivers exactly what the film demands: authenticity and unvarnished energy. Malakhitova anchors the chaos with her feral presence. Alex Arco’s Lambert exudes dangerous charisma, Ashleigh Zinko’s Claire Marchiati crackles with subversive intent, and Splodge as Gentle offers a wonderfully off-kilter counterpoint as an underground poet. Dean McAskil, as The Mouth of Oz, leans deliciously into the film’s surreal, allegorical core, embodying the cryptic, manipulative voice of the system itself.
The Unflinching Gaze - Beneath the surface noise, “Skeleton Girls” has something urgent to say. It’s a provocative, if fragmented, dissection of modern alienation, the weaponization of information, and the desperate search for identity and connection amidst the digital static. It doesn’t preach; it screams.
That glorious, punishing aesthetic is a double-edged sword. The "cut and paste" approach, while viscerally effective, often sacrifices structural clarity. The storytelling becomes deliberately disorienting, sometimes crossing the line from immersive chaos into frustrating obscurity. Key motivations and plot turns can feel buried under the stylistic avalanche.
“Skeleton Girls. A Kidnapped Society” is not an easy film. It’s messy, loud, structurally unsound, and proud of it. But it’s also fiercely alive, a wildly original testament to the undying spirit of truly independent filmmaking. Richard Eames has crafted a neon-drenched fever dream that viscerally captures the anxiety and frenetic energy of its moment. It drags the viewer into the Rat Nest and doesn’t promise a safe way out. While its narrative ambitions sometimes buckle under its stylistic weight, the sheer audacity of its vision, the raw power of its performances, and the authenticity of its rebellion are undeniable. It’s a magnesium flare in the night – blinding, brief, and impossible to ignore. For those who crave cinema that punches as hard as it thinks, “Skeleton Girls” is a raw, rebellious ride proving the underground is still very much alive and kicking in 2025. Just remember your earplugs. And maybe an aspirin. (Neo, 2025)