Carnifex is a 2022 Australian horror film directed by Sean Lahiff and written by Shanti Gudgeon, starring Alexandra Park, Sisi Stringer, and Harry Greenwood. It premiered at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain on 6 October 2022.
An aspiring documentarian and two conservationists venture into the Australian outback to record the animals displaced by bushfires, hoping to preserve the forests, whereupon they discover a terrifying new sub-species descended from the supposedly extinct Thylacoleo carnifex.
Developed from an original concept by Dancing Road, Carnifex is an environmental horror/thriller.
Carnifex was shot in the South Australian locations of Adelaide, Adelaide Hills, Belair National Park, Port Adelaide, Morialta Conservation Park, Lobethal, and Gorge Wildlife Park.
Carnifex is one of many horror films set in the Australian outback. Director and editor Sean Lahiff tells FilmInk about the location:
Carnifex premiered at the Sitges Film Festival in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain, on 6 October 2022. Following its screening at Adelaide Film Festival on 22 October 2022, it premiered in Australian cinemas on 1 December 2022.
In Sweden it was released on Australia Day in January 2024, distributed by Cinecct Sweden. Arvet Agency managed the film rights for the Nordic countries in 2024.