Bad Blood

Even the most beautiful New Zealand landscape is integrated as an almost active character. Newell’s exploitation of the night-time sequences adds a supernatural aura to Graham’s threat, which turns hunters into hunted and re-locates paranoia in the community at large; while his evocations of claustrophobia amidst open country prove well worthy of producer Andrew Brown’s intelligent screenplay.

– Paul Taylor, Time Out review

When Stanley Graham was hiding out in the New Zealand bush during the war, after shooting several people he didn’t much like the look of, Lord Haw-Haw announced that Hitler had sent him a telegram: “Hold the South Island. Sending another man to take the North Island” … Graham, a backwoods farmer who caused the greatest manhunt in New Zealand history, shot people because he couldn’t make a living and he couldn’t make friends. There didn’t seem much else to do. But though that seems like fantasy, it was rooted in the film to a riveting everyday reality.

– Derek Malcolm, Guardian review