"Rippy" (2024)

by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden

In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s Australian horror film Rippy (originally titled The Red) by Ryan Coonan.

Synopsis

Obsessed with living up to her dead father's legacy, young Sheriff Maddy (Tess Haubrich) finds her mettle tested when locals are found ripped to shreds.

The Good

Joseph: Though touted as a horror comedy, I’d consider Rippy to be more of a horror dramedy — and I mean that as a compliment. Setting the titular killer kangaroo and his gruesome shredding of victims aside for a moment, the drama concerning Sheriff Maddy (Tess Haubrich), her memories of her “hero cop” father who died saving her, and her relationship with her Uncle Schmitty (Michael Biehn) and Aunt Donna (Angie Milliken) is of a higher than usual quality for what might be expected with a humorous creature feature. These three leads play it straight, giving viewers earned emotional investment in their characters. Naturally, the writing is a big reason for those traits, and the screenplay by director Ryan Coonan and cowriter Richard Barcaricchio sets the drama and players up impressively. Coonan also directs with verve and paces the proceedings well. The film’s plentiful gore effects look amazing.

Mike: The story of Rippy is a familiar one and you’ve all seen it at least once. A young adult, following in their father’s footsteps, tries to live up to their legacy while blaming themselves for a tragic event in the past, must battle an evil that threatens the community in which they live.

Does that mean Rippy is a bad movie? No, it merely means that what Richard Barcaricchio and Ryan Coonan have done is take a familiar plot and make it interesting with a zombified kangaroo, a group of likable characters, and some better than the budget would imply special effects (more on that later).

Tess Haubrich steals the show with her role as the regional police officer, coming across as vulnerable, determined, and more than capable at doing her job. In a surprising twist, Michael Biehn does a great job in his role as Haubrich’s character’s uncle to life. While it’s no work like in The Terminator or Aliens, it’s still better than what he sometimes puts on film as of late.

The Bad

Joseph: The murderous marsupial has a cool creature design, but is obviously CGI of a lower budget variety. I admit that trying to pull off a practical effects monster suit with a huge kangaroo would be highly difficult, but Rippy’s CGI work felt flat to me at times. I do want to give compliments to the obviously talented crew members behind those visual effects, though, because I’m sure they did the best they could on a limited budget.

Mike: Bringing a zombie kangaroo to life is no easy feat. Without a lot of money to throw at someone like WETA, you’ve got to rely on CGI and puppetry to fill the bill, and while it’s not horrible, some of the effects in Rippy look like they’re straight out of one of those awful Asylum films. To be fair, there’s not a lot ‘wrong’ or even ‘bad’ about Rippy, assuming it’s what you’re looking for to fill a brisk 84 minutes of time, but I need to put something in this section and, well, aside from some good animatronic puppetry for close ups, the kangaroo CGI is what’s going to fill the bill.

The Verdict

Joseph: Rippy may follow many of the familiar tropes and beats of monster movie fare — the misunderstood outsider who first saw the creature and lived to tell about it but no one believes him, the hunting party that becomes easy prey, and so on — but I had such a good time watching it, thanks in large part to the performances of Haubrich, Biehn, and Milliken and Rippy’s reign of terror that I didn’t mind. I give Rippy a strong recommendation, and especially creature feature fanatics should have a blast with it.

Mike: Despite some sketchy CGI, good acting by Michael Biehn and Tess Haubrich, and an engaging story by Richard Barcaricchio and Ryan Coonan make this a fast and fun foray into animals gone amok. Tropes be damned, Rippy is a gruesome good time.

…and make sure you stick around for the credits as we get a bit of an origin behind ‘Big Red’.