Opening: THESE FINAL HOURS, A Truly Great Doomsday Production

A firecracker of a production, These Final Hours is set in the Australian city of Perth on the final day before the world as we know it concludes.

It is exactly what it sounds like; an intense genre exercise respecting the best of its kind whilst being imbued with truly original and meaningful characters and implications.

Nathan Phillips (Wolf Creek) plays James, a strung-out, conflicted mess who aches to travel to his girlfriend's party and lose himself in drink, drugs and debauchery. Perth suburbia is transformed as machete wielding maniacs stalk areas blocked by makeshift supermarket trolley fences.

This horrific genre element comes as a relief, as These Final Hours could have been a contemplative, low-budget slow burn on what it means to be a part of the final day on Earth. Thankfully, the film has it both ways, through organic character development and the trials and tribulations the last hours bring.

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Read the entire review, originally published during the 2013 Melbourne International Film Festival, here.

The film opens in select theaters and on various Video On Demand platforms in the U.S. on Friday, March 6, via Well Go USA.