Credits: Alice Bell .... Screenwriter Paul Goldman .... Director Emily Barclay .... Katrina Michael Dorman .... Rusty Robert Morgan .... John Anthony Hayes .... Kenny Laurence Breuls .... Danny Steve Bastoni .... Robert Andretti Mia Wasikoska .... Lilya Genevieve Lemon .... Dianne Madeleine Jaine .... Janelle Susan Prior .... Christine Stuart Spence .... Interviewer Alison Cox .... Angela Rod Ansell .... Angry Neighbour Ivan Topic .... Lilya's Father John Carr .... Wayne Rebecca Clay .... Reporter Peter Hansen .... Uncle Len Paul J Mailath .... Barrister Matthew Schelle .... Skill Tester Jason Stojanovski .... Lachlan Letitia Sutherland .... Heather

Review by Sandra Hall, October 28, 2006

SMH review

We first meet Katrina, the heroine - or rather, perpetrator - of Suburban Mayhem as she's being interviewed. Her father has been murdered, her brother is in jail and a documentary-maker is shooting a film about the case.

Things look grim. Nevertheless, Katrina has no difficulty in locating her personal patch of silver lining: if none of this had happened, she wouldn't be sitting in front ofa camera having a film madeabout her.

Katrina is a creature of the tabloids. As inspiration, her creator, Suburban Mayhem's writer, Alice Bell, drew on a diversity of court hearings and newspaper crime stories - origins that could easily have produced an animated cardboard cut-out, mouthing the kind of dialogue that usually comes enclosed by a cartoon balloon. And maybe that's the way she was on paper. A characterisation, like a suit of clothes, is given life only by the right body.

But now she's hit the screen and there's no doubt about the suitability of young New Zealand actress Emily Barclay for this particular tailoring job. Her Katrina hums with such predatory vitality that no one around her can be considered safe.

At the age of 19, she's a fully fledged femme fatale, favouring as battle dress thigh-high boots, moulded mini-skirts, leopard prints and black leather. The beauty salon, where she regularly has her hair, nails and make-up redone, is her version of an armoury and her mobile phone, which she wears tucked into her cleavage, is an indispensable weapon. She's mistress of the SMS and the local boys are her Praetorian Guard.

"Wanna f---?" is their call to arms and, since she usually obliges, they'll do anything for her - from scoring bottles of Jack Daniel's to terrorising an innocent householder who somehow got under her skin.

Her story unfolds in flashback, punctuated by interviews with those who have been unlucky to cross her path, starting with her father's former girlfriend, Dianne, who has known her and her hell-raising brother, Danny (Laurence Breuls), since they were infants. Played with just the right degree of satirical spin by Genevieve Lemon, Dianne is well-versed in neighbourhood folklore and views both Danny and Katrina with the detachment of someone who has long since had her worst fears confirmed and can now luxuriate in being right.

Rating

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CIA Review Cinematic Intelligence Agency There are some things in life you can't control. Fame, lust, murder... and Katrina.

Can you really get away with murder? Welcome to the world of Katrina (Emily Barclay), a 19-year-old single mum who's planning to do just that. Katrina lives in a world of petty crime, fast cars, manicures and blow-jobs. A master manipulator of men living at home with her father in suburban Golden Grove, Katrina will stop at nothing to get what she wants, even murder. When her father threatens to contact social services and take away her child, Katrina sets in motion a plan to wreak suburban mayhem that will leave a community in shock and Katrina infamous in a way even she never dreamed of.