FANGORIA will host a free New York screening of the critically praised Australian true-crime thriller THE SNOWTOWN MURDERS (a.k.a. SNOWTOWN) next Wednesday night, February 29 at 7 p.m., with award-winning director Justin Kurzel attending. The special event will be held at New York City’s IFC Center (323 Sixth Avenue at 3rd Street; 212-924-7771). Read on for more details, pics and the trailer.

The Fango screening of SNOWTOWN will be a free show; to obtain tickets, send an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your full name. Please list “FANGORIA SNOWTOWN” as your subject line. Offer is good for you and one guest. Names will be checked at the door. Offer is first come, first served, and we will confirm your RSVP. Seating is not guaranteed, however. This preview is presented by IFC Films, which will release SNOWTOWN March 2 at the IFC Center and March 16 at the Egyptian in Hollywood.

Based on the horrifying crimes discovered in Snowtown, Australia in 1999, where police found dismembered bodies rotting in barrels, SNOWTOWN is a stark journey into the feral subculture of welfare dependence, addiction, domestic violence, brutality and sexual abuse. Elizabeth Harvey (Louise Harris) is raising her three boys in Adelaide’s poor northern suburbs. After her latest boyfriend displays pedophilic tendencies, she takes up with a new man, hoping for security, but instead winds up welcoming an even more vicious predator into her home. John Bunting (Daniel Henshall) is the moral compass among a circle of friends who hold self-appointed neighborhood-watch meetings; fueled by cigarettes and beer, they cast judgments on those around them. Bunting enlists his crew in acts of sadistic vigilantism on those he considers deviants, and takes Elizabeth’s son Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) under his wing. In a mix of misdirected hero worship and terror, Jamie becomes an accomplice to a spree of torture and killing.

Written by Shaun Grant, SNOWTOWN is an uncompromising film, focusing on the relationship between the vulnerable teenager and his father figure who is revealed to be the worst kind of bully. The film, which marks Kurzel’s directorial debut, won the Jury Prize (Critics Week) at the Cannes Film Festival, was an official entry at the Toronto International Film Festival and took home four Australian Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

Reviewing the movie, Scott Foundas of Film Comment called SNOWTOWN “Profoundly disturbing,” while Frank Hatherley of Screen International praised it as a “triumph of naturalism.” This is one screening you do not want to miss! SNOWTOWN will haunt you long after the final credits roll. See you at the show!

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