Review: Hounds of Love
The hounds of the title are John (Stephen Curry) and Evelyn (Emma Booth) White, a married couple first observed offering a teenager a ride in broad daylight. She gets into their car and the following scenes depict her fate: bruised wrists and ankles bound to a bed, bloodied tissues crumpled on the floor, John doing away with their nameless victim as Evelyn prepares breakfast and later hangs laundry outside to dry. It's chilling to watch because one realises how routine this all seems to be for the couple and more so because writer-director Ben Young suggests more than shows.
It's December 1987 in Perth, Australia and Vicki Maloney (Ashleigh Cummings) unwittingly becomes the couple's latest prey when she decides to sneak out of her mother's house to attend a party. It's understandable why Vicki would be lured into the couple's trap - nothing about John and Evelyn's demeanour suggests anything other than normal. Spotting a child's car seat in the back of their car seems to be the solidifying factor in Vicki's decision to go with the couple. Once at their place, she's wary enough to initially stay outside whilst John goes inside to fetch the weed they promised her, but the idling chat she shares with Evelyn loosens her defenses. It's not too long before she's inside the house and screaming in vain as the Whites drag her to a room and tie her to a bed. The ensuing minutes with Evelyn fellating John as he gazes at the struggling Vicki and listens to her muffled howls makes it all too clear how their victims figure into their relationship.
As repugnant and hard to stomach the subject matter is, Young is interested less in the tale's inherent luridness and more in the dynamics between the lead trio. Vicki, still reeling from her parents' divorce, rightly perceives that there are cracks to exploit in John and Evelyn's relationship. Taking advantage of Evelyn's insecurities, she points out that John may not have her best interests at heart, that he's just using her, that he's even bought her the dog to replace the children that one suspects he had a hand in removing from her life. Yet those insecurities make Evelyn a woman riven with jealousy and fear that she might lose John if she believes what Vicki is telling her.
This is dynamite stuff and the actors commit themselves to their psychologically grueling roles. Booth, in particular, is excellent as the victimiser who is just as much a victim as Vicki is. Young, who based the film on the real-life Moorhouse murders that rocked Australia in the 1980s, displays enormous skill in not only maintaining the almost unbearable tension but in marrying the most harrowing scenes to the most unlikely music tracks such as The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin," which plays in the background as Vicki is initially inducted into her fresh hell. His crisp narration and execution marks him as a filmmaker to watch.
Hounds of Love
Directed by: Ben Young
Written by: Ben Young
Starring: Emma Booth, Ashleigh Cummings, Stephen Curry, Susie Porter
