New Australian movie Blame, which opens at Cinemax Arthouse theatre Kingscliff this week, has been a long time coming, according to writer/director Michael Henry. “I started writing it back in 2001 and I probably wrote a draft every year (until four or five years ago),” he laughed. Henry said, the taut, twisting and turning thriller which has been garnering positive feedback from viewers and critics alike since its release, came from one of the now defunct newspaper News of the World’s earlier scandals. He said, in 1999 News of the World published the names and addresses of offenders. However, unfortunately, vigil-ante mobs descended, not just on those people, but on others with the same name living in the same streets. From that incident, Henry started thinking about what happens when you don’t have all the facts; and from that, Blame was born. The story then became one of five friends, seeking justice and revenge, violently attacking a man in his remote country house. Their plan: the perfect murder. Confident that their victim’s death by his own hand will not be questioned, they overdose him on sleeping pills, but it all goes horribly wrong when their attempt fails and their victim fights for his life. In the aftermath, questions are raised about the true nature of the events leading up to the botched attack. As lies and secrets are revealed, the dynamic of the once-tight group shifts as the friends begin to question each other’s motives. As they move closer to the truth, the weight of their quest for justice drives them to a place of no return.
