AustLit

'In a house deep in the woods Lucy (Adele Perovic) waits for her sister, alone and largely isolated in a remote, small cottage. However, there is something uncanny about the house and there seems to be a strange presence within its walls. But the dangers Lucy faces may also come from more familiar sources. As the film slowly unfolds Lucy’s physical and psychological isolation become more apparent, as Lost Gully Road explores the increasingly oppressive atmosphere of Lucy’s world.

'Melbourne based director Donna McRae’s second feature combines a quasi-gothic tale with an exploration of gender and violence, isolation and trauma.'

Source: Perth International Film festival.

'In recent years the international film industry’s attention has turned to highlighting the lack of gender equality in filmmaking. There has been much discussion on ways to increase production led by female filmmakers, and continuing pressure applied to various film festivals to exhibit their finished works. In Australia, this disunion has already been noticed and some Australian funding bodies are now compliant. So why are female led films the exception rather than the rule? Why are there only a handful of A-listed actresses that are entrusted to open films that wear the mantel of ‘women’s film or chick-flick”? In horror film circles the same problems arise: apart from the strong Final Girl archetype, female characters are often side-lined to be a girlfriend or victim that is at the mercy of the stronger male characters, or worse, an insane harridan whose film is categorised under the ‘psycho biddy’ subgenre. This article closely considers Canadian filmmaker Ursula Dabrowsky, a filmmaker based in Adelaide, Australia, in both the context of gender representation in her film Inner Demon (2014) and in terms of her status as a woman making genre cinema in the context of the contemporary Australian film industry.'

Source: Abstract.

'Millicent, a professional musician, lectures in music at a Melbourne university. Popular with the students, she loves her job and the opportunities it brings her. Millicent lives alone in her flat. She is also a recovering alcoholic who has a commemorative tattoo - 'Johnny Ghost' - that stretches across her shoulder. It signifies a past that she has long since buried - the time of post punk Melbourne in the early '80's, when she was a different person. In fact she has suppressed the past so effectively it is concealed like a crypt inside her. So she lives her life in almost solitary confinement - paying for an old sin. When she decides to take a risk and remove the tattoo she encounters ghosts who won't let her move on so easily. They want her to pay for what she has done.'

Source: Official website (http://www.johnnyghostfilm.com/synopsis.html). Sighted: 27/6/2012)

One reviewer, quoted on the film's official website, notes that:

'In fact perhaps the scariest thing about 'Johnny Ghost' isn't the recent spirits themselves but Millicent's own breakdown in their assumed presence. As a result it is almost inconsequential whether these ghosts are real; nowhere in the film is there anything to suggest these ghosts are able to be seen by others, and they act for the most part impassively. While the film does occasionally hold to its genre conventions with a couple of real jolts, it mostly, and I will use the word again, 'unsettles'. Millicent (a great non-modern name by the way), is unsettled not just emotionally, but in the real world too, not fitting in or 'settled' anywhere, not even in her own home. This feeling pervades the film with a proper sense of eeriness and dread, rather than the scarifying thrills typical to ghost films.'