The Cost is an intense story of revenge told with stark, intimate filmmaking and powerful performances.
They say revenge is a dish best served cold. It is also the basis for many films, with the likes of Get Carter, John Wick, and a tonne more revelling in a “roaring rampage of revenge” to the delight of film audiences. The Cost dispels any romantic notions of revenge as action-adventure excitement, and delves instead into the moral and psychological consequences of methodical act of vengeance that spirals out of control.
Directed by Matthew Holmes (The Legend of Ben Hall), The Cost tells the story of widow David (Jordan Fraser-Trumble) and his brother-in-law Aaron (Damon Hunter), two ordinary men who are hellbent on avenging the rape and murder of David’s wife Stephanie (Nicole Pastor) at the hands of Troy (Kevin Dee), who recently did a 10-year-stint of a 32-year prison sentence.
David and Aaron abduct Troy from his home, drug him, and throw him in the boot of their car, with which they travel to David’s uncle’s rural property deep in bushland Victoria. Troy is then disrobed and objected to physical and psychological violence.
Where in the hands of other filmmakers this violent sequence of events could lead to torture porn style theatrics, Holmes wisely stays away from the well-trod road of exploitation and instead leads his audience down a path of meditation on the impact a violent act can have on a victim’s family. Themes such as grief, redemption, and vengeance meld to create a slow-burn thinking mans thriller in which there are no easy answers and best laid plans are often derailed.
The performances of the three leads in The Cost are universally strong, with Kevin Dee especially memorable as a man whose monstrous and indeed evil act will forever tarnish any attempt of redemption. While Troy is indeed a pitiful creature who even (occasionally) garners sympathy for his plight, Holmes consistently reminds of the heinous crime he committed in flashback scenes, and the emotional trauma his crime inflicted upon David and Aaron.
Shot in rural Lauriston, Victoria, The Cost boats a natural vibrancy in its rural landscape that wonderfully clashes with the films dark subject matter, courtesy of cinematographer Cable Williams (The Party Bus). The films’ violence, although not gross out in its bloodshed, can be hard to sit through with its stark brutality.
The Cost asks heavy questions of its audience and wisely does not offer preachy answers. What Holmes does do is remind of mans savagery towards man, and how the duality of good and evil will forever reside in the hearts and souls of all who tread upon creation. The Cost is a story of humanity at its most raw and flawed.
