Hounds of Love

Hounds of Love is a 2016 Australian crime thriller film written and directed by Ben Young in his feature directorial debut. Loosely based upon the crimes of David and Catherine Birnie, the film follows a married couple who kidnap and terrorise a young woman in the suburbs of Perth. It was selected to compete the Venice Days section at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival on 1 September 2016, where Ashleigh Cummings won the Fedeora Award for Best Actress. Plot Vicki Maloney, an intelligent and charismatic teenager inwardly struggling with her parents’ recent separation, spends the weekend at her mother's house in outer suburbia. After a heated argument between them, Vicki defiantly sneaks out to attend a party and is lured into the car of a seemingly trustworthy couple, John and Evelyn White. Vicki soon finds herself held captive at John and Evelyn's house where she is forced into a dark world of violence and domination. With no way to escape and her murder imminent, Vicki realises she must find a way to drive a wedge between them if she is to survive. Vicki tries exploiting Evelyn's desire to see her absent children, unfortunately John's emotional hold over Evelyn is too strong and her efforts to turn them against each other only fuels Evelyn's will to see her die. Broken and tormented, Vicki accepts her fate may soon lie at the bottom of a shallow bush grave.