Family Demons

Did You Know?

• The film was shot in just two weeks during January 2006, one of Adelaide's worst heat waves in 30 years.
• The budget was a minuscule $6,500.

Plot

Teenage Billie lives a miserable existence with her alcoholic mother, enduring daily physical and emotional punishment for being born from rape. She has never attended school, held a job, or left the house, making her a virtual prisoner. During one of her mother's three-day drinking binges, a starving Billie sneaks out to buy food but is attacked by a gang of thugs on her way home. Neighbor Sean intervenes to help her escape, but her mother catches her returning and chains her to the laundry sink. Hearing Billie's cries, Sean breaks in and frees her, and they share a day of fun. When her mother discovers this, a violent struggle erupts, and Billie's repressed anger surfaces as she pushes her mother, who hits her head on a table corner. Sean helps Billie take her mother to the hospital, then offers to take Billie away. While waiting, her mother suddenly appears and attacks her; Billie kills her in fear and buries the body in the backyard. The doctor later calls to say her mother has died. Billie digs up the body, finding it is Sean, and weeps. Years later, Billie's daughter is shown chained up as Billie pours herself a drink and stares drunkenly at her.

Production

Shot in January 2006 over just two weeks, Family Demons was made for $6,500 during Adelaide's worst heat wave in three decades. IFM World Releasing acquired distribution rights in November 2009. The film won Best Foreign Feature and Best Actress for Cassandra Kane at the Fright Night Film Festival. It was also awarded Best Australian Director at the 2009 Night of Horror Film Festival in Sydney and was nominated as a finalist in the 2009 DigiSPAA awards.