It shouldn't exactly be called a slasher though. The body count is high but it is not really in the same genre. Instead maybe it is similar to those old British atmospheric horrors. Generally though such movies always end up on top of my list. But I am not so sure of this movie. There has been a great deal of effort in building atmosphere in this movie. For the most part, it works on suggestion and it doesn't really show much violence except towards the end. And when it does show, it does deliver in spades. I liked the way the movie slowly reveals the truth of the situation. In that, it is similar to certain Hammer thriller movies of the 60s and 70s like Taste of fear, Nightmare and so on. Only in some ways, it is even more subdued than those films. The lead actress is perfect in the role. In some ways maybe, the setting itself is not too interesting. It would have been even better if she was alone in the house and then she slowly learns about the situation. This movie is about a retirement home. I guess for the perverts among us, this is not really an interesting setting and personally whatever nudity that exists in the movie is not wholly interesting to me. But the mood that the movie sets is pretty impressive. The reveal is not shocking. To be honest, anybody who has read any mystery authors or watched many mystery movies would be able to guess. It is not groundbreaking in any way. But credit must be given for some stylish sequences, especially towards the end (the sugar cube scene in particular) that would obviously make this a cult movie(if it was more known).The reason why I am not giving it a higher rating is because I feel that it could have been more interesting in the first half. There is a marked improvement in the second half. But still the movie plods on in the first half without much really going on and there isn't much tension being built up. This would be fine if there was some interesting character development in the first half but I don't think this movie really has that much detail in its story for such character development. The plot and the reveal are fairly simple. Despite all that, I still feel this is a slow burn movie worth checking, at least for the second half's interesting scenes and the ending. 6/10

"Next Of Kin" has become something of a minor cult classic and deservedly so. This has to be one of the few horror films that I have actually found freaky. Others being "An American Werewolf In London", "Friday The 13th" and "The Thing". I feel I shouldn't give too much away, but I can tell you this; Tarantino is a huge fan of John Jarratt, and in particular, a huge fan of this movie. In short, this has gone under the radar a bit and must be seen. Horror as it should be.

While touring Australia promoting Kill Bill 2, Tarantino looked up John Jarratt, actor in Next of Kin. He's one of my favorite actors," said Tarantino."He was in all those great movies in the late '70s. His favorite is Jarratt's 1982 horror film, "Next Of Kin"."That movie was mesmerizing," said Tarantino. "I've never seen anything that had The Shining's quality without ripping it off.According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, Tarantino is considering actor John Jarratt for a lead role in his next film "Inglorious Bastards"? Sounds strange, but weirder things have happened. Says Jarratt, "I love his stuff, loved Pulp Fiction, but I didn't think he'd have heard of me let alone know my work," Jarratt said."Hopefully something comes of it but I won't be worried if it doesn't. I'm just an ugly old character actor now, mate." You never know…watch this space. Jarratt has since received acclaim for his performance in Wolf Creek.

Not to be confused with the Patrick Swayze vehicle or Atom Egoyan film with the same title, this Australian production from 1982 is a superb horror film. Featuring fantastic cinematography and good performances, NEXT OF KIN is one of those great $3 finds (on the US Virgin Vision label) and definitely deserves more attention.The film's biggest asset is the direction by Tony Williams. Despite Virgin's blood drenched cover, NEXT OF KIN isn't really a slasher film. The first 2/3 of the film unfolds in a very slow and deliberate manner that allows the audience to experience the unfolding mystery as Linda (Jacki Kerin) begins to do so on her own. Williams builds the atmosphere effectively over this time. There are several chilling moments involving long crawls down hallways and thoughts of being watched. The last 1/3 is a straight up horror/action finale that, with the mystery revealed, places the heroine in an adrenaline-pumping chase. The tagline on one box for this reads, "Some films take their audience to the brink of terror…this one crosses the border!" I couldn't agree more.Another key to the film's success is the mystery itself. It is one of those films where you have to watch every little detail. The writers (director Williams and Michael Heath) deliberately lead the audience down the wrong path so that, like Linda, we think we know it all but are completely in the dark. The final revelation is quite surprising and makes complete sense given everything seen previous in the film. Of course the stellar cast helps greatly in pulling this off. Kerin is very good as the investigative Linda. Alex Scott, who also appeared in ROMPER STOMPER, is particularly good as the Dr. Barton.