The Horseman (2009)

Avenging his daughter’s death by hook, crook and crowbar, ‘pest-control’ expert Christian (Peter Marshall) offs enough Aussie lowlifes to shame Mad Max.

“D’ya like football?” he asks one, before doing something unspeakable to him with a soccer pump; a moment that passes for levity amid the sad, saturated blues that swamp Steven Kastrissios’ brutal but affecting revenge flick.

Like Dead Man’s Shoes with twice the malice, half the mystery and a lot more genital mutilation, the film’s saved from accusations of torture porn by Marshall’s moving performance, which makes palpable the pain of each new atrocity he’s compelled to commit.

Read the full The Horseman review