Gone - Region 2 DVD

Here, the lead characters in question are a pair of in-love backpackers, who, while rambling across Australian desert, meet a stranger on their travels. Things, without giving too much away, escalate from there, but thanks to the wise restraint of first-time director Ringan Ledwidge, events in Gone are kept very taut and extremely tense. Eschewing gimmicks and gore, instead the film is very focused, perhaps a little unambitious, but nonetheless highly effective.

Ledwidge’s cast serve him very well, too. Shaun Evans and Amelia Warner are effective as the backpackers, but it’s Scott Mechlowicz stranger you’ll be talking about once Gone’s credits roll. That, and the superb photography, that delivers some wonderful frames from the terrific Australian scenery.

Some may find the relatively slow pace a little troubling, and there isn’t much in the way of surprise in Gone’s locker. But as a small, quietly effective little horror, you won’t feel cheated by it at all. --Jon Foster