Western Australia is the perfect setting for a thriller according to the director of the latest locally filmed production, Blame.
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Blame writer and director Michael Henry, whose speciality is short film, chose Roleystone in the Perth Hills as the location to set his first feature film.
![Screengrab from thriller Blame, filmed in Roleystone. Screengrab from thriller Blame, filmed in Roleystone.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/8b9868bf-bf24-42c3-a747-bf5b458a124f.jpg/r0_0_729_410_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"There's this fear in Australia of how much space we have and how vast our properties are, it's something foreign audiences see as innately Australian," Henry said.
It comes as no surprise the film, which premiered at Subiaco's Ace Cinemas overnight, was a standout success at the recent Cannes Film Festival where it was picked up by a number of international outlets.
![Get ready for the next Wolf Creek. Get ready for the next Wolf Creek.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/e3be419b-f709-44f1-bffc-5423b70916d7.jpg/r0_0_353_504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The dramatic thriller, which took almost a decade to write and fund and just 20 days to film, was a 2010 festival favourite, impressing critics and audiences in Toronto, Melbourne and India.
Some of Australia's rising silver screen stars including Rush star Ashley Zukerman and WAAPA graduate and Underbelly's favourite dodgy cop Damien De Montemas, star in the what can be best described as the best local thriller since Wolf Creek.
De Montemas plays music teacher Bernard who is set upon by five vigilate friends who plot his death, seeking revenge for their friend's recent suicide which they blame Bernard for. The close knit group, including Wolf Creek scream queen Kestie Morassi and Indie leading lady Sophie Lowe, think they have planned the perfect murder as they attack Bernard in his remote country house by making his death look like an accidental overdose. From there the tension, violence and gnarling angst reaches a crescendo when the plan goes awry. The dynamic of the group changes when doubt and suspicion creeps in bringing with it edge of your seat drama.
Henry, Zukerman and De Montemas returned to Perth last night, the first time since filming wrapped in February last year (during Perth's hottest and driest summer on record), for the premiere ahead of its cinematic release on June 16.
Henry has a number of other projects in the pipeline, both here and in the US, with one in particular being a case of 'life imitating art'.
"It's about a small town hunting an arsonist after being devastated by a fire, which is funny considering we were in Roleystone as I had this idea about three years ago and it’s just been so strange how it’s all played out," he said.
In the meantime, Blame will begin its season at Luna Leederville and Ace Cinemas Midland Gate on June 16.
Follow Jenna Clarke on Twitter @JennaMClarke