The Town Synonymous with Murder Between 1992 and 1999, seven people were either directly responsible for or complicit in a South Australian torture and murder spree.
Eleven people were confirmed victims, while a twelfth was dropped from the case due to lack of evidence.
Eight of the bodies were stored in six acid-filled barrels, which were moved by the perpetrators to various locations before finally being stored in a disused bank vault in the sleepy hamlet of Snowtown.
The discovery of the barrels, made possible due to a five-year investigation, led to the uncovering of all the crimes, which eventually came to be known as the Snowtown murders or the Bodies in Barrels murders.
Despite its notorious association, only one murder was committed in Snowtown, and none of the victims or perpetrators were actually from that area.
Four people were ultimately arrested and charged for the murders.
The ringleader was John Bunting, described by Penelope Debelle of the Sydney Morning Herald as "Australia's worst serial killer.
" His victims, people he knew or was somehow related to, were chosen on suspicion of crimes and behaviors that were never officially proven as fact.
These included homosexuality and pedophilia, both of which he passionately detested.
He also showed hatred towards drug addicts and the obese.
After entering a relationship with Elizabeth Harvey, he took under his wing her son, fourteen-year-old James Vlassakis, and over the years groomed him into becoming his accomplice.
After several pretrial hearings, Vlassakis was given four consecutive life sentences in 2001 with a twenty-six-year non-parole period.
In 2003, Bunting was given eleven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
This story has been dramatized in The Snowtown Murders, easily one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen.
It would not be accurate to call it a horror movie, during which you always have that little voice in the back of your head telling you that what you're watching isn't real.
All the same, the film is unremittingly frightening and at times painfully unwatchable.
It filled me with disgust, and yet, because I believe that was the intention, I'm forced to concede that it was successful.
Unlike exploitative trash such as A Serbian Film, The Snowtown Murders depicts rape, torture, and murder in such a way that we can actually identify with the victims, and therefore experience a genuine emotional reaction.
The effect is undeniably powerful.
It's also emotionally draining, so don't say I didn't warn you.
Bunting, as depicted by Daniel Henshall, is an intense man who runs the narrow gamut between an unsettling presence and a sadistic monster.
To an extent, we understand his corrupting influence over young Vlassakis (Lucas Pittaway), who we see being photographed in his underwear by his mother's original boyfriend and who is soon thereafter raped by his own half-brother (Anthony Groves).
It's obvious that the kid, who eventually shoots Bunting's dog at his behest, is torn between misplaced hero worship and paralyzing fear, both likely fueled by his lack of a father figure.
Despite this, we don't really get a sense of Bunting's authoritative power - or, more accurately, how he was able to obtain and exercise it.
On the basis of the film, all the right people just happen to come into his life.
This definitely includes a ragtag band of lowly chain smokers who convene every so often at a kitchen table and rant filthily about what they would do if they ever caught a pedophile.
They fancy themselves a neighborhood watch, but they're really nothing more than a second-rate gang of vigilantes.
We have a better understanding of Vlassakis' mother, Elizabeth Harvey (Louis Harris), who always seems frazzled and is never seen without a cigarette.
You can tell she consistently attracts the wrong type of man, and would therefore be blind to the negative idiosyncrasies someone like Bunting continually projects.
In the film, we're torn between feeling sorry for her and wishing she would finally get her act together.
We're also not sure of the extent to which she's aware of Bunting's crimes.
In real life, Harvey knew what he was doing all along, and even ended up assisting in one of them at his encouragement.
She escaped punishment only because she died of cancer before she was found to be complicit.
One of the film's biggest drawbacks is its structure, which is at times curiously random.
We also never get a sense of the passage of time; for all I know, the seven-year timeline of the actual murder spree has been condensed into several days or weeks.
Having said that, I appreciated the atmosphere created by director Justin Kurzel, specifically the authentic feel of Bunting's lower class neighborhood - the patchy lawns, the chain link fences, the stray dogs roaming the streets.
I also recognize that technical skill applied to the scenes of torture and murder, which are graphic but not gratuitous.
This doesn't mean that I enjoyed watching them.
Truth be told, it's difficult to imagine anyone in their right minds enjoying The Snowtown Murders, as I don't believe entertainment was the goal.
It's an uncompromising historical film made with such proficiency that it cannot be dismissed.
At the same time, you could never make me watch it again.
Not in a million years.