''Scare Campaign'' is a 2016 Australian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

written and directed by Colin and Cameron Cairnes. It stars Meegan Warner,

Ian Meadows Ian Meadows is an Australian actor, playwright and writer. Early life and education Born and raised in Collie, Western Australia, Meadows trained at Curtin University and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), graduating i ...

, Olivia DeJonge, and

Josh Quong Tart Josh Quong Tart (born 18 September 1975) is an Australian actor. Early life Tart attended the McDonald College before he was accepted into National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1994, graduating in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in Perfo ...

Plot

''Scare Campaign'' is a hidden camera prank show that has been scaring its targets with old school scares for the last 5 years. Their latest target (

John Brumpton John Brumpton (born 28 July 1958) is an Australian actor who has appeared in a large number of local productions. Early life Brumpton grew up in Sydney. He graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1982 with a Bachelor of Survey ...

) nearly ends up shooting an actress thinking she's a real zombie until the crew reveals that it's a prank. Emma, another actress on the show, speaks to her director and ex-boyfriend Marcus (

) about being more careful who they prank in case they end up scaring "the wrong guy." Their manager, Vicki (

Sigrid Thornton Sigrid Madeline Thornton (born 12 February 1959) is an Australian film and television actress. Her television work includes ''Prisoner'' (1979–80), '' All the Rivers Run'' (1983), '' SeaChange'' (1998–2019) and '' Wentworth'' (2016–2018) ...

) shows them a web series called ''Masked Freaks'' that involve a bunch of costumed people killing other people gruesomely. The series threatens ''Scare Campaigns popularity so Vicki encourages the team to up the ante to increase their ratings. Hiring a new actress named Abby ( Olivia DeJonge), the team takes their next prank to an abandoned

psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...

, where they intend to prank a new groundskeeper, Rohan (

). As the prank goes along as planned, Emma starts having second thoughts and leaves Rohan alone, where he explores the asylum through the team's special effects, despite Emma's pleas to end the prank. When Abby is signalled to surprise him, Rohan reacts by stabbing her to death with a letter opener, strangling cameraman Tony and slitting the throat of actress Suze. Emma and special effects specialist J.D. ( Patrick Harvey) barricade themselves in a room and beg Marcus and camera operator Dick to call the police. However, Rohan breaks in and kills Marcus and Dick. Emma and J.D. make it to the van to escape, but J.D. runs back inside to find the keys. Rohan appears but Emma stabs his hand and runs inside. It's then revealed that the whole predicament was a prank and Emma was their new stooge. Trent, the actor playing Rohan, berates Marcus and quits. Suddenly, ''Masked Freaks'' appear with weapons equipped to their cameras and kills Trent, revealing themselves as actual serial killers and not actors as their show made it look. They proceed to murder the other members of ''Scare Campaign''. Marcus tries to warn Emma, who ignores him after discovering she was the real stooge of their prank. Later, she believes him and they find Suze's body and witness Tony getting killed. ''Masked Freaks'' hack into ''Scare Campaigns computer and reveal they do what they do for the new generation of online entertainment. They bury Abby alive and give Marcus and Emma five minutes to save her. Marcus and Emma run out to save Abby and kill one of the ''Masked Freaks'', who is revealed to be merely a teenager. After saving Abby, they are surrounded by the ''Masked Freaks'' and their boss tells Emma she may leave with either Marcus or Abby. She chooses Abby and kisses Marcus before leaving. While they're driving away, the ''Masked Freaks'' reveal to Marcus that Abby was their spy the whole time before wheeling Marcus on a stretcher into a furnace. On the drive back to town, Emma notices one of the ''Masked Freaks'' cameras in the van pointing at her, leaving her to wonder about Abby's involvement.

Cast

* Meegan Warner as Emma *

as Marcus * Olivia DeJonge as Abby *

as Trent * Patrick Harvey as J.D. * Cassandra Magrath as Suze *

Steve Mouzakis Steve Mouzakis is an Australian film, television and theatre actor. He is known for his role in the Spike Jonze film ''Where the Wild Things Are'', Van Gogh in ''Prison Break'', Steven Ray in the film '' The Suicide Theory'', and performing alon ...

as Tony *

as George *

as Vicki *Kaiting Yap as Ayako *Jason Geary as Dick

Reception

Andrew L. Urban at UrbanCinefile.com gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Propelled by an ever-inventive screenplay, ''Scare Campaign'' revels in surprising us while scaring us. To its credit, we don't see the twists coming, and the Russian Doll-type structure gives the film a rich texture."

Accolades

References

External links

*
Scare Campaign
' at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2019 2016 films 2016 horror films Films set in abandoned buildings and structures Australian zombie films Australian independent films Australian slasher films Films set in psychiatric hospitals Films shot in Victoria (state) Films about mass murder Reality television series parodies Films about snuff films 2010s English-language films 2010s slasher films English-language horror films