RIPPY (2024)

Rippy, The Red (2024)
Directed by: Ryan Coonan
Written by: Richard Barcaricchio, Ryan Coonan
Starring: Aaron Davison, Aaron Pedersen, Angie Milliken, Barry Mitchell, Bridget Haylock, Michael Biehn, Tess Haubrich, Tom Block

RIPPY (2024)
aka The Red
Directed by Ryan Coonan
Available on digital and DVD

When an eccentric war veteran named Schmitty complains to local police officer Maddie that he’s come up against a red kangaroo that simply cannot be killed, she laughs off his story as being a tall tale. But after a number of slayings occur in the town, leaving the victims’ bodies ripped and torn, she begins to believe that maybe old Schmitty may not be quite that mad after all.

RIPPY puts a deadly spin on Australia’s beloved wild animal, the kangaroo, in this delightfully savage creature feature.

A sleepy town, a place where everyone knows everybody else, is in for a rude awakening when a zombie kangaroo comes leaping into the picture with a taste for blood and carnage on its mind.

Now, I know that kangaroos can be fiesty, with powerful kicks and standing almost 7 foot tall – such was the iconic red ‘roo Roger whose muscles would make a bodybuilder drop his protein shake with jealously – which is intimidating in itself, but this bad boy in RIPPY is a step above. The bloodthirsty roo is smart and cunning, often waiting for the cover of darkness to strike his prey, tearing out their organs. When it’s clear a human isn’t responsible for the brutal deaths in the town, the tracks point to one animal… and it’s one with big feet.

The killer kangaroo is designed using CGI, which disappointed me a little as I absolutely love costumes, puppets and stop-motion in creature features like this, but the CGI kangaroo works to fine effect as the villain of the piece. As his eyes light up in the darkness, and his thundering body bounces over to his victims as he snatches them out off the dirt path, the threat of the kangaroo feels tangible. The human performances also have a lot to do with this as they play their parts completely straight, including Aliens and Tombstone star, Michael Biehn, who plays Schmitty, the first of our characters to get a really good look at the killer kangaroo.

Unlike many creature features of this ilk, RIPPY isn’t really played for laughs. The seemingly unstoppable kangaroo is treated as a genuine threat, so there’s no real tongue-in-cheek or laugh out loud moments to be had. Rippy is presented as an evil for whom all should be afraid. That’s not to say that, as a fan of these sorta films, you can’t have a wee smile on your face as the kangaroo stalks his victims and claws open their cavities.

In addition to the killer kangaroo, there’s a character development plot running throughout the movie involving main character Maddie who’s a police officer. Maddie has tried to make her father proud since his tragic death when she was just a child. He died a hero, and was also a former cop, war hero and sports hero to boot. Yep, a triple threat to live up to. She feels the weight of his legacy moreso when some decisions she makes with the best intentions don’t work out too great. Though the loss of her father plays a significant part in her personality, she comes across as a decent human being regardless. No doubt, however, that her passion for helping others and being bold and brave is spurred on by the fact she wants to fill her father’s shoes. She seems up for the task when it becomes apparent that it ain’t no man responsible for the slayings and organises a hunting party to take down the ravenous roo. But will that be enough?

RIPPY has the right amount of action and menace to keep the plot flowing with enthusiastic performances and a few heart-in-mouth moments to keep the fear heightened. Little aspects I appreciated were to physically and practically show the devastation and power of this animal, which it being a CGI creature it needed to make the threat seem real. From cars shaking to barricaded doors being forced, it all adds in creating the fearsome entity that is Rippy and make the survival plight believable.

The performances from Tess Haubrich as police officer Maddie, and Michael Biehn and Angie Milliken as divorced couple Schmitty and bar owner Donna, make for a solid partnership to carry the film and its close-knit feeling of the importance of family and friends. There’s also some great performances too from supporting actors Aaron Pederson as mining boss Dave, and Bridget Haylock as a grief-stricken mother, Mrs Kitchener.

Whilst part of me would like to have seen what they could have done turning the violence and bloodshed to the extreme, with a practical FX kangaroo instead of CGI, RIPPY sufficiently ticks the boxes in this low budget action survival horror, with an enjoyable, brief animated backstory if you stay into the credits sequence.

Rating: