| Scare Campaign | |
| Director: | Cameron Cairnes Colin Cairnes |
| Producer: | Julie Ryan |
| Starring: | Meegan Warner Ian Meadows Olivia DeJonge Josh Quong Tart |
| Music: | Glenn Richards |
| Cinematography: | John Brawley |
| Editing: | Adam White |
| Runtime: | 80 minutes |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
Scare Campaign is a 2016 Australian horror film written and directed by Colin and Cameron Cairnes, and starring Meegan Warner, Ian Meadows, Olivia DeJonge and Josh Quong Tart.
Scare Campaign is a hidden camera prank show that has been scaring its targets with old school scares for the last 5 years. Their latest target (John Brumpton) nearly ends up shooting an actress thinking she's a real zombie until the crew reveals that it's a prank. Emma, another actress on the show, speaks to her director and ex-boyfriend Marcus (Ian Meadows) about being more careful who they prank in case they end up scaring "the wrong guy." Their manager, Vicki (Sigrid Thornton) shows them a web series called Masked Freaks that involve a bunch of costumed people killing other people gruesomely. The series threatens Scare Campaigns popularity so Vicki encourages the team to up the ante to increase their ratings.
Hiring a new actress named Abby (Olivia DeJonge), the team takes their next prank to an abandoned psychiatric hospital, where they intend to prank a new groundskeeper, Rohan (Josh Quong Tart). As the prank goes along as planned, Emma starts having second thoughts and leaves Rohan alone, where he explores the asylum through the team's special effects, despite Emma's pleas to end the prank. When Abby is signalled to surprise him, Rohan reacts by stabbing her to death with a letter opener, strangling cameraman Tony and slitting the throat of actress Suze. Emma and special effects specialist J.D. (Patrick Harvey) barricade themselves in a room and beg Marcus and camera operator Dick to call the police. However, Rohan breaks in and kills Marcus and Dick. Emma and J.D. make it to the van to escape, but J.D. runs back inside to find the keys. Rohan appears but Emma stabs his hand and runs inside. It's then revealed that the whole predicament was a prank and Emma was their new stooge. Trent, the actor playing Rohan, berates Marcus and quits.
Suddenly, Masked Freaks appear with weapons equipped to their cameras and kills Trent, revealing themselves as actual serial killers and not actors as their show made it look. They proceed to murder the other members of Scare Campaign. Marcus tries to warn Emma, who ignores him after discovering she was the real stooge of their prank. Later, she believes him and they find Suze's body and witness Tony getting killed. Masked Freaks hack into Scare Campaigns computer and reveal they do what they do for the new generation of online entertainment. They bury Abby alive and give Marcus and Emma five minutes to save her. Marcus and Emma run out to save Abby and kill one of the Masked Freaks, who is revealed to be merely a teenager. After saving Abby, they are surrounded by the Masked Freaks and their boss tells Emma she may leave with either Marcus or Abby. She chooses Abby and kisses Marcus before leaving. While they're driving away, the Masked Freaks reveal to Marcus that Abby was their spy the whole time before wheeling Marcus on a stretcher into a furnace. On the drive back to town, Emma notices one of the Masked Freaks cameras in the van pointing at her, leaving her to wonder about Abby's involvement.
Andrew L. Urban at UrbanCinefile.com gave a positive review, writing "Propelled by an ever-inventive screenplay, Scare Campaign revels in surprising us while scaring us. To its credit, we don't see the twists coming, and the Russian Doll-type structure gives the film a rich texture."[1]
| Award | Category | Subject | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASSG Award | Best Achievement in Sound for Film Sound Design | Steve Burgess | |
| Chris Goodes | |||
| Liesl Pieterse | |||
| Alex Francis | |||
| Mario Vaccaro | |||
| Diego Ruiz | |||
| Monster Fest Jury Prize | Best Film | Cameron & Colin Cairnes | |
| Best Director | |||
| Best Feature Screenplay | |||
| Best Sound in a Feature | Steve Burgess | ||