BACKTRACK

Therapist Peter Bower tries to glue back together the pieces of his life after everything came crushing down when his daughter died in a tragic accident. This doesn’t seem to go well. The depressed looks of his wife and the multitude of unopened boxes in their new home all suggest the opposite of a new start. It also doesn’t help that the small town where they moved to from Sydney is plummeted by endless rainfall. Peter starts to see new patients, but if there’s anyone in need of therapy, it’s more likely to be him. The unannounced visit of a strange teenage girls sets in motion a series of events that make clear that Peter is not only haunted by his tragic past.

Backtrack is the feature debut of successful scriptwriter Michael Petrioni (The Rite, The Chronicles of Narnia). This supernatural thriller brings to mind Nicolas Roeg’s classic Don’t Look Now. It’s a bold reference, but the mystery and the acting are up to par with this illustrious predecessor. Especially if the latter is being taken care of by the likes of Adrien Brody (The Pianist, King Kong, Splice) and Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Event Horizon, In the Mouth of Madness).