Diagonaldi Very well executed

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

fang_proxy It's based on a true story. The music, cinematography and the acting was superb. I love this movie, the bleakness, the nature..it's really interesting to see something darker about human nature.if you want something fun then this movie isn't for you. The music when the credits roll...outstanding! I never written a review before nor will it probably help you in anyway but it justifies that how much i love this movie.sorry for my bad English

Fruit-Flix This feels like a 'Tourism Tasmania' commercial with a touch of cannibalism, truly a great combination.The movie is based on the true account of Alexander Pearce, Australia's most notorious convict, and the events that took place in 1822, as Pearce and a group of convicts escape into the Tasmanian wilderness. The group is then left at the mercy of nature, themselves, and notably the human desire to eat.This is truly a beautiful movie, the cinematography of sweeping landscapes and rugged bushland is worth watching the rental/ticket price alone. It strikes me as the type of DVD they play in appliance stores to show off the new HD-TVs (although they would have to skip the numerous bludgeoning scenes). The story itself is a simple and tight narrative of the human condition pushed to its limits. While there is some grizzly violence and confronting concepts, the movie never descends into gratuitous visuals based purely on shock value. While the story is compelling and rolls along nicely, I found myself just wanting a little more depth to all of the supporting characters. This is also one of the main strengths of this film, it makes you want more; I was always wondering what was going to happen next, what's that guy going to do, where are they going, what's around that corner, what does that taste like etc… Ultimately this factor leaves the viewer a tad unsatisfied yet appreciative of the movie as a whole.On the Fruit-Meter, Van Demons Lands gets the "KIWI-FRUIT" - A bit grizzled and rough on the outside, but once you peel off the skin it's fresh and tasty, but it was a small fruit and I want some more. MART-FLIX PUN-FUN – It's compelling to watch convicts battle their inner "demons"…..that sucked

vikpk One star for the opening scene - promising, bedazzling view, along with a somewhat mysterious Irish narrative...And that is it. They should have ended it there to save their reputation. What follows is beyond comprehension - slow paced, boring, badly directed one-dimensional flick... There is nothing original about the story... actually there is no story. Eight criminals escape from a labor camp in Tasmania in the early 19th century. Stupidly, and under the circumstances, they don't want to go back, so they proceed with their escape into the uninhabited forest. And begin to kill and eat each other. One is left in the end, winning the cannibalism contest. And why is this story worthwhile a whole feature film? What amazes me is the fascination of the writers and directors with human depravity and degradation which somehow then ends up being glorified through the cinema art form. Of course they will eat each other -- they are criminals after all. Noble things don't come easy to these guys, how much deeper can you go? To this film's sick fascination with cannibalism we must add such enlightening bonuses as male nudity, foul language, violence and gore, and jokes about it and some god dancing with an ax as a final line... torturous experience for the viewer.

Miakmynov Although it felt like a rewarding experience, Van Diemen's Land is not what you would call an easy watch. The viewer is transported back a couple of centuries, and plunged into the harsh and untamed Tasmanian landscape, for a fairly straightforward tale of man v man v the environment.Despite its' simplicity, it's an affecting tale, helped by the sparse, evocative and apologetic "I'm a quiet man" voice-over that threads its way through the narrative, holding together the otherwise un-holdable. It's very much 'in-your-face' as there's little historical explanation, and only the vaguest sense of any future ahead, which compels you to focus on the here-and-now. The score is haunting, and the film is beautifully shot, with bleached-out greens emphasizing the unforgiving nature of their surroundings and predicament.The trailer gives a good indication of what to expect, including two of the more iconic sequences that stayed with me long afterwards – one scene where the group are running time-lapsed and ghost-like through the forest trying to escape their pursuers, the other the shockingly swift brutality with which the second inmate on the menu meets his maker. Elsewhere, we experience the messy and protracted depiction of how hard it is to kill a man, and as the numbers dwindle whilst the tension and paranoia mounts, individual camp fires become the order of the night, as the lengths men would go to survive become increasingly desperate.On the downside, I struggled to hear some of the heavily-accented dialogue (especially when the speaker was off screen), and it was hard to believe that there were no other nutritious animals in a rainforest, bar a solitary snake. Given their limited resources, quite how they would have caught them is another matter, but they'd have sure as hell tried, to save from eating each other.I came out feeling like I'd been badly mauled after 12 rounds in a ring with an enormous and unbeatable foe. It's a real powerhouse of a film that I would most certainly recommend, even though one viewing is quite sufficient for me in this lifetime. 7/10.