Picnic At Hanging Rock - The Perfect Film For Halloween Boxing Day

A strange but sober way to be adieu to 'Spooky Season'...

With October 31st an entire year away, those with a love for all things frightening might be feeling a bit melancholy on November 1st. Should you be on the lookout
for a film with a similar mood, you could do a lot worse than watch - or re-watch - Picnic At Hanging Rock. And while it might be forlorn and restrained, Peter Weir’s picture is a welcome reminder that, even when All Hallows’ Eve is a whole year away, the cinema supernatural is a 365 day affair.

Contrary to popular belief, Picnic At Hanging Rock isn’t based on a true story. Not that this revelation dilutes the sense of ill-ease that permeates the picture.

Set on Valentine’s Day 1900, the picture sees a band of schoolgirls visit the titular outcrop only for three pupils and a teacher to vanish, seemingly into thin air.
We never discover who’s responsible for the disappearances, although fingers are pointed at both the aboriginal community and Hanging Rock itself, an area whose supernatural power was allegedly experienced by the cast members during the shoot.

Compasses going haywire, watches stopping and starting - no doubt the solution to such mysteries was disappointingly mundane, and likewise the film would lose its edge if it offered up anything in the way of resolution.

But by keeping the facts to himself and by drawing upon the beauty and the terror
of the Australian Outback, Weir created a film that’s every bit the equal of his Hollywood enterprises (Witness, Fearless, The Truman Show, Master And Commander, etc.).