Coffin Rock

Australian writer-director Rupert Glasson’s persuasive psychological thriller offers an interesting variation on the sociopathic ‘stalker’ plot. This time, though, it’s a handsome young male drifter, Evan, who threatens the happy but fragile marriage of a couple desperate to have a baby. Rob and Jess’s efforts to conceive are an open secret in the small cray-fishing town of Coffin Rock. But the strain of waiting for news about Rob’s possibly dodgy sperm is damaging their marriage. So when Jess gets pregnant, it’s as a result of drunken sex with creepy Evan. Rob acts like a cockerel, believing the child to be his, while increasingly unhinged Evan violently asserts his rights as the baby’s father. The warning signs are there early on, when Evan gives Jess a bird’s nest as a gift. By the time he’s abusing a kangaroo and biting the heads off fish, the well-crafted characterisation, slow-burning tension and credible situations have given way to hysterical excess.