''The Moogai'' is a 2024 Australian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

written and directed by Jon Bell, based on his 2020

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

of the same name. The film stars Shari Sebbens,

Meyne Wyatt Meyne Wyatt (born 1989) is an Aboriginal Australian actor, known for his stage, film, and television roles. In 2012, he played a supporting role in the musical comedy film '' The Sapphires'' and also made his debut with the Bell Shakespeare com ...

, Tessa Rose, Clarence Ryan, Toby Leonard Moore and

Bella Heathcote Isabella Heathcote (born 27 May 1987) is an Australian actress. Following her film debut in ''Acolytes'' (2008), she had a recurring role as Amanda Fowler on the television soap opera ''Neighbours'' (2009). She gained further recognition for he ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

2024 Sundance Film Festival The 2024 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 18 to 28, 2024. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 6, 2023. Among the highlighted events included the premiere of a documentary about the 1980s rock band Dev ...

on 21 January 2024, and was released in Australian cinemas on 31 October 2024.

Synopsis

The story is about a young Aboriginal mother who believes that her child is possessed, and includes

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

themes related to the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Gover ...

(a government policy of forced removal of Aboriginal children from their parents) and

The Dreaming The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by hi ...

. ''Moogai'' is the Bundjalung word for "ghost".

Cast

* Shari Sebbens as Sarah *

as Fergus *Tessa Rose as Ruth * Clarence Ryan as Ray Boy * Toby Leonard Moore as Dr. Barnes *

as Becky * Christian Byers as Constable Flatley * Alexandra Jensen as Miss Miller

Production

Background and short film

Jon Bell Jonathan Bell (born 26 August 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders FC. Born in the United States, he represents the Jamaica national team. Club career New England Revolutio ...

's short film of the same name won the Midnight Shorts Grand Jury Award at the 2021

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Film Festival, as well as Best Director at the 2021

Brooklyn Horror Film Festival Brooklyn Horror Film Festival is an annual film festival in Brooklyn, New York. It was founded in 2016. With the 2020 edition of the festival cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, it was one of the partners in the Nightstr ...

. The short film is available in Australia on free streaming service SBS on Demand. Bell is a

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

/ Bundjalung / Yaegl man, hence the choice of the title in the Bundjalung language, which means "bad spirit" somewhat like the "

boogie man The bogeyman (; also spelled or known as bogyman, bogy, bogey, and, in US English, also boogeyman) is a mythical creature typically used to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearances, and conceptions vary drasti ...

". He said about the short film that he intended it to illuminate the

intergenerational trauma Intergenerationality is interaction between members of different generations.Klimczuk, Andrzej, ''Intergenerationality, Intergenerational Justice, Intergenerational Policies'', n:S. Thompson (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice'', ...

faced by Aboriginal Australians in particular mothers whose children were forcibly removed from them, creating the

Feature film

Jon Bell said that his (feature) film is "a love letter to the Aboriginal women in his family", acknowledging the way that Aboriginal women "have continued to create families and hold families together in the face of hundreds of years of genocidal practices and policies", referring specifically to the policies under which Aboriginal children were removed from their families. He says that the horror genre provided the ability for him to explore the impact of the removals, which he does by "repurposing" tropes of the genre, which provides the commentary. ''The Moogai'' was produced by Mitchell Stanley of No Coincidence Media, with Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings, of Causeway Films. South Australian special effects company KOJO Studios was responsible for the visual effects. Marty Pepper of KOJO, who served as, executive director, post-production, created a replica of the set at his own property in Willunga to create effects during

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

Release

The film premiered in the Midnights section of the

on 21 January. It had its Australian premiere at the 2024

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. , the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

in June, later screening at the

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

and 2024 CinefestOZ in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. It was released in Australian cinemas by Maslow Entertainment,

Umbrella Entertainment Umbrella Entertainment is a privately-held Australian film production and distribution company that began operating in 2001. It is based in Kew, Victoria. Umbrella Entertainment manages the theatrical, physical, and digital releases of Australia ...

, and Ahi Films on 31 October 2024. In March 2025, the North American distribution rights were acquired by

Samuel Goldwyn Films Samuel Goldwyn Films, LLC is an American film company that licenses, releases and distributes art-house, independent and foreign films. It was founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. Th ...

Reception

Upon the world premiere of the feature film at the

, the film received mixed reviews. In his review for

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

, Brian Tallerico suggested that "tightening the effects" would help the film, and hoping that it would be further refined before its theatrical release. The film was more positively received by Australian reviewers and audiences upon its Australian premiere at the 2024

, as it won the Audience Award for Best Australian Feature. After its cinema release, Sandra Hall of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' gave it 3 out of 5 stars, writing that "Bell is a skilled and experienced screenwriter", but it "doesn't give the actors enough time or space to embellish their characters nough, and the film "isn't as scary as it's trying to be". Ali Alizadeh, a creative writing lecturer at

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

, writing in ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

'', praises Bell's talent, but felt that the film should have embraced more of the horror genre's "darker, more shocking aesthetics" rather than the greater focus on the thematic topics.

References

External links

* *
''The Moogai''
at Causeway Films {{DEFAULTSORT:Moogai, The 2024 films 2024 independent films 2024 horror films 2020s English-language films 2020s Australian films Australian horror films Australian independent films English-language horror films English-language independent films