Australia’s ’rich animal base’ makes creature features a good genre to explore

Old school ‘creature feature’ Sting was the perfect excuse for Ryan Corr to shoot back home in Australia – creepy-crawlies and all.

Snakes, crocs, spiders and other creepy-crawlies, it is a genuine fear many have ahead of visiting Australia.

That makes it ripe fodder for a horror film with the latest in that genre coming from writer director Kiah Roache-Turner by way of big screen effort, Sting.

“It is a genuine thing. When I travel, people think there are snakes in the toilet, spiders are everywhere that will kill you, the sharks in the ocean,” actor Ryan Corr tells Insider. “I think it definitely plays into that. Kiah’s films are always fantastical, they’re slightly heightened so they are full of energy.”

Corr and Alyla Browne are the lead actors in Sting, the story of a young girl who raises a ‘pet spider’ in secret that goes on to become a giant flesh-eating monster. It is an unashamed ‘creature feature’.

“It has got comedy elements to it too,” Corr said. “It has got this sort of homage to like films of the ’90s that didn’t take themselves too seriously, horror films of that era that Kiah grew up on and he liked watching.

Australian actor Ryan Corr.

“What I really love about Kiah as a director is he is very fearless in that he wants to continue making those films. He’s very genre specific. He makes creature features and he leans into that, there’s not many directors that are doing that nowadays and I think that’s pretty special, and it was a definite draw(card) coming into it. I’ve wanted to work with him for many years.”

Horror is a genre Australian filmmakers seem to be doing very well.

Of course Roache-Turner has Sting and his previous flicks including Wyrmwood and Nekrotonic.

Ryan Corr in the new Australian creature feature, Sting. Picture: Supplied

But think James Wan and Leah Whannel of the global Saw movie franchise. They’ve gone on to become major players in Hollywood.

Cameron and Colin Cairnes shot Late Night with the Devil, starring Oppenheimer’s David Dastmalchian, in Melbourne.

And then there’s Adelaide brothers Michael and Danny Philippou, who had a huge international box office hit with 2022 release Talk To Me.

“With the arrival of streamers and platforms and Stranger Things and the success of films like Talk to Me, I think it allows people to be a little braver with the content we’re creating because there’s a lot more space for it to go,” Corr explained.

“That’s really exciting. Instead of just going to your straight down the line, five films a year dramas, it is good to be branching out. It doesn’t mean we have to always get it right. I just think we’re more likely to have Talk To Me and Sting and things that do succeed if we take those risks and if we branch out a little bit. We’ve got a lot more stories to tell.”

Australia’s “rich animal base” makes creature features a good genre to explore here, although not the only one.

Australia’s “rich animal base” makes creature features like Sting a good genre to explore here.

“It is a great place to shoot, Australia,” Corr said. “Particularly after the strike (Hollywood writer and actor strikes), we have so many different landscapes that can double as everywhere around the world – Thailand, Mars, New York. It is an interesting movement in the industry that I’ve kind of noticed that the work that’s coming up is often more genre based.”

The idea for Sting was born out of Roache-Turner’s own arachnophobia, but also his fear of being a step-parent.

As a testament to the calibre of the film, it also stars industry heavyweight Noni Hazlehurst alongside Silvia Colloca and Penelope Mitchell.

Corr is Ethan, stepfather to Browne’s character, Charlotte.

“I think the best horror films have something underlying them. You’ve got your jump scares or your slashers, or whatever the theme may be, but underneath it there’s often something more centred and, for this one anyway, it’s family,” Corr said.

“The central line for me through this was paying homage to step parents.

“Ethan’s journey through this is to try and connect with Charlotte and, when we meet them, their relationship is slightly fractured.

To Ryan Corr, the central line of horror film Sting is family.

“It is an interesting thing that happens, as that relationship fractures and as the depression sets in for Ethan and he starts faltering as a parent, making bad decisions despite the darkness, the depression is growing, we hold on to that as a metaphor going through.”

Fatherhood being a central theme prompted the question, does Corr want to have children of his own one day?

“I’d love to be a father,” he said, usually very private about such matters.

“I’ve got such great parents to look up to. I’ve said that from a young age, I really like the idea of being a father. I think it’s living for someone else. I’d like to try that one day but because it’s about the right person and about the right time in life. It is not like a checklist and someone sort of going, OK, and now we’re up to it.”

Corr is one of our most recognisable local actors, having worked on television and film for more than two decades.

Underbelly, Packed To The Rafters, Love Child, Cleverman are just some of his local television successes.

And he appeared in international HBO juggernaut House of The Dragon as Ser Harwin ‘Breakbones’ Strong. On film, his credits include Hacksaw Ridge, The Water Diviner, Where The Wild Things Are and Holding The Man.

Brooke Satchwell and Ryan Corr on the set of Packed to the Rafters.

Consistency as an actor is key, he said.

“It has been hard the last couple years with the writers’ strike and, of course, through Covid like everyone else. But it feels like the industry is sort of back on track and I think this film’s an example of that where I think we are taking slightly more bold choices in some of the films we make,” he said, having just wrapped shooting family comedy, Kangaroo.

“Australia’s filmmaking and its culture and stories is where I was raised and has always been important to me.

“Coming back home and working here has always been my consistency and it is always what I value.

“It’s kind of like a touring musician, being an actor, it is not always your choice.

“Sometimes it’s consistency, sometimes it is paying your rent, sometimes you get to work on these incredible things or with these incredible people, and you’re pinching yourself on the sets that you find yourself on.”

Sting is in cinemas nationally from July 18