Ellison, Elizabeth, and Ryan, Mark David (2015). A dangerous place: the function of the beach as a setting in Australian horror movies. Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand (FHAANZ) Conference, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 1-3 July.

1. A dangerous place: the function
of the beach as a setting in
Australian horror
Elizabeth Ellison and Mark David Ryan
E: l.ellison@cqu.edu.au T:@liz_ellison
E: m3.ryan@qut.edu.au T: @Markdavidryan
Queensland University of Technology

2. Liminal
The Australian beach is often viewed in research as a liminal
space
An in-between space: A tract of sand between land and ocean
and a gateway to ocean
In cinema: either a place of regeneration /rebirth, death

3. Binaries
Beachscape – more common in TV series – remain quite rare
and marginal in Australian cinema
The beach is usually a space of binaries:
- everyday, ordinary space vs. mythic, idealised space
- serene vs. sinister

4. Outback mythologies
Outback settings are overwhelmingly dominant in Australian
cinema
A leitmotif is the struggle of survival in a dangerous primordial
landscape
Colonial mythologies dominant
Fear of isolation, being trapped in wide open spaces

5. Beach in horror
The monstrous landscape, the unknown
The shark as monster
Offshore thrillers
Three key types of beach settings in Australian horror films:
• Beach settings as a character and dominant setting
• Beach settings in offshore horror movies
• Beach settings with a minor but symbolically important role in
narrative or as an off-screen ideal

6. Beach as a monstrous landscape
Borrows key tropes from outback set horror
The Long Weekend (1978, 2008 remake)
Lost Things (2003)
The Last Wave (1977)

7. Offshore and Sharks
The Reef (2010)

8. Offshore and Island settings
Uninhabited (2010)

9. Conclusion
Horror films of the beach rely on the disruption of
the familiar and a sometimes simplistic conforming
of the binaries of the space

10. Questions?

11. References
This presentation is based on the published book chapter:
Ryan, Mark David & Ellison, Liz (2020) Beaches in Australian horror films: sites of fear
and retreat. In Ellison, Elizabeth & Brien, Donna Lee (Eds.) Writing the Australian
Beach: Local Site, Global Idea. Palgrave Macmillan, Switzerland, pp. 125-141.