"Dying Breed" is from the third installment of Lions Gate's After Dark Horror Fest, a.k.a. 8 Films 2 Die 4. It is a fiction story inspired by real events. It begins captioning about Tasmania, Australia having one of the strongest prison camps for the British military from the late 1700s through the late 1800s and how many convicts attempted to escape, very few succeeded. Alexander Pierce, who was known as the Pie Man back in the 1800s, was one of the very few. He learned to kill and eat other people as part of his survival techniques during his escape and when he hid out deep in the Australian wilderness. An estimate of 250 people disappeared in the Australian during his escape with never any trace or any dead bodies ever found. He was eventually caught and lynched for cannibalism.

The movie begins in the present time with zoologist Nina(Mirrah Foulkes) and three adventurous friends Matt(Leigh Wannell), Jack(Nathan Phillips), and Rebecca(Melanie Vallejo) venturing into an Australian island jungle to prove the existence of a rare Tasmanian tiger. Nina is also secretly trying to solve the mystery of her sister's death there eight years earlier. After a disturbing visit at a tavern, the group starts experiencing weird things before people start disappearing mysteriously. Nina eventually finds out what happened to her sister in a very sick, graphic, gorey, and intense way; while the group discovers they are being hunted by cannibalistic descendants of Alexander Pierce.

The killer is a very slick, suave, sophisticated, and intelligent character who will not appear to be psychotic, much less cannibalistic, by any stretch of the imagination. When first introduced, he appears to be very friendly, laid back, and down to Earth. He is also very good at covering his tracks. In a way, he is like an Australian version of Hannibal Lechter.

This is not the greatest horror film ever and not the most original either, but it is still unique in its own way with a lot of awesome scenery, lively action, great graphics, good drama, good dialogue, some good humor, and a decent plot. The set pieces involving knives, crossbows, bear traps, and false teeth are very intense and terrifying to some. First time feature director, Jody Dwyer, makes an overall good effort with his first film and has a great future if he can continue with the same flow he started with. The film editing is also well done and the film is also in overall great production.

Although not the greatest or the most original, it is still good overall and definitely worth checking out. It should really appeal to fans of the After Dark Horrorfest and to some fans of "Wolf Creek" and of the "Silence Of The Lambs" series.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older