“Bikers are afraid of it… Tourists avoid it… The locals love it… Others have tried it… And we’ll deliver.” That’s the makers of LOST NOT FOUND touting their new fear feature, currently in preproduction in Australia. The creators are Melbourne-based Efisia Fele and Phoebe Meyer (pictured, with Fele at left), who describe the movie to Fango as “a road-trip horror film based upon real-life accounts of the effects of isolation, poverty and the brutality of the arid Australian bush. The film tells the tragic story of five American youths who come face to face with the harsh and remorseless nature of the land and its inhabitants, whereby the audience witnesses a series of unimaginable events, leaving a sense of defeat as we see these irrational crimes being played out before us by a clan of weathered and sadistic madmen.
“As familiar as this premise sounds,” they continue, “LOST NOT FOUND doesn’t shy away from paying homage to its predecessors such as DELIVERANCE, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. However, the morality and subplot within the film make LOST NOT FOUND a fitting commentary on the state of the world today. Many innocent tourists have been lost in Australia, leaving no trace, as if the land itself swallowed them whole. This is the story of the many faceless statistics that the world outside of Australia never hears about. LOST NOT FOUND will bring a grim realism to cinematic entertainment by causing the audience to consider the plausible nature of the situation. In the Outback, no one will hear your screams…”
Fele elaborates on the movie’s themes: “There have been unforgivable injustices and crimes in this country that even the general Australian public has no idea about,” she tells Fango. “Most people seem to think that one can safely pick up and travel this land, like it’s a cheap whore waiting for a ride. I believe it’s high time that we clean up what’s under Australia’s carpet and come to terms with the grim reality. People go missing every day here, and not even your worst nightmare could come close to what these ‘statistics,’ or people, have experienced. But in some way, I believe that the land is seeking vengeance, blood for blood. It’s important that the world becomes privy to this, and I hope this film does something to set the machine in motion.”
Meyer takes the subject matter equally seriously, and applied that determination to the writing of LOST NOT FOUND. “One thing I have always believed to be being quintessential to film is character-driven plots,” she says. “LOST NOT FOUND is a part of me; I live, breathe and sleep it, it invades my mind every day. I put myself, and I mean put myself, in the characters’ shoes, which sometimes can be very disturbing if I don’t shake it off. For me, the most important thing since the conception of this idea has been realism. Gritty, hardcore ‘What the f**k am I gunna do to survive this?’ realism. I want to attempt to show what some of Australia’s missing have gone through.” You can keep up with the production by checking in and signing up for the mailing list at the movie’s official website.
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