Australian Penthouse

Director: Stuart Beattie

Stars: Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Deniz Akdeniz, Lincoln Lewis, Phoebe Tonkin, Chris Pang, Ashleigh Cummings

PARAMOUNT

IN CINEMAS SEPTEMBER 2

BASED on the first in a series of acclaimed novels by John Marsden, Tomorrow, When the War Began explores what might happen if Australia was invaded and occupied by a hostile foreign power.

At the heart of the action are seven teenagers, who leave a fictional country town called Wirrawee to go camping in a beautiful remote area incongruously known as ‘Hell’. While they’re there, forming and furthering romances and generally having fun, they see a large number of military aircraft fly overhead. While they acknowledge it as strange, they don’t think too much of it…until they arrive back in Wirrawee and find the place deserted.

Worried about their families, the kids split up into three groups and discover that the townsfolk are being held captive at the local showground by a ruthless, unidentified army. Led by the pragmatic Homer (Akdeniz) and resilient Ellie (Stasey), the friends decide to fight back and wage a guerrilla war against the heavily armed invaders.

Filmed entirely in New South Wales, primarily in Raymond Terrace and the Blue Mountains, Tomorrow, When the War Began is one of the best Australian movies to emerge in recent years. While it’s obviously aimed at teens and young adults – just like the book – the action sequences are as good as you’ll see in any Hollywood blockbuster and the performances are engaging, particularly from Caitlin Stasey and Deniz Akdeniz.

With six more novels in the series, the film-makers hope Tomorrow… will become an international Twilight-like phenomenon, and the potential is certainly there.