Fear is the Rider, an ode to Ozploitation films that was first announced in 2022, is officially back in pre-production with John Michael McDonagh writing and directing.
The feature film, which takes place in the Australian Outback, pays tribute to ‘the blood-soaked Ozploitation slashers of the 1970s’, according to a piece in Deadline today.
McDonagh, a British-Irish filmmaker whose past works include Ned Kelly (2003), The Guard (2011) and Calvary (2014), has adapted the script of Fear is the Rider from Gabriel Bergmoser’s novel The Hunted.
The story centres on a woman, deep in the Outback in search of her missing mother, who becomes the target of a brutal family of serial killers. Alongside an ex-con and a young girl, she faces a desperate fight for survival against ruthless predators in a desolate, haunting landscape.
The project boasts an impressive cast already, with Ben Mendelsohn (The New Look, Rogue One), Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road), Toby Wallace (The Bikeriders), and Eliza Scanlen (Babyteeth) in lead roles. Supporting actors include Daniel Henshall (Mickey 17), Brenton Thwaites (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), Thomas Turgoose (This Is England), Rhys Wakefield (The Purge), Shane Jacobson (The Bourne Legacy), Susie Porter (Gold), and Jacqui Purvis (Home and Away).
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Produced by McDonagh’s House of Un-American Activities (The Forgiven) with Elizabeth Eves, alongside Brookstreet Pictures’ Trevor Matthews and Nick Gordon (The Brutalist), and Kate Glover (Foe), Fear is the Rider is scheduled to begin principal photography in early 2025.
The film is currently on its way to the American Film Market to attract finance and eye potential distributors, with Film Constellation and CAA Media Finance representing.
Fear is the Rider: set to be a trilogy
Fear is the Rider is apparently just the first installment in a planned trilogy of thrillers. The second film, Fear is the Rider: Australia Day, will take inspiration from Wake in Fright author Kenneth Cook’s writing, creating a trilogy ‘rooted in the raw intensity and surreal dangers’ of the Australian Outback.
Fear is the Rider does not yet have a confirmed release date.
