Mysterious sightings of a large black panther-like creature roaming the Australian bushland have been reported for decades, with dozens of alleged encounters logged each year.
The enduring piece of Aussie folklore is the inspiration for upcoming horror-comedy Blood Legend, Variety reports.
Yaz Haddad, co-host of Yaz & Feras on Sydney’s 2Day FM, will star as Benny, a social-media obsessive from Western Sydney whose bid to capture proof of a mythical big cat on camera spirals into something far more dangerous.
The film leans into the legend’s comedy potential while pushing into genuine horror territory as Benny’s viral ambitions put him and his friends, played by Hamze Taha,Marcus Trgo, and Tony Rahme, in mortal danger.
Natassia Halabi, Fady Kassab, Cameron James, Ben Fransham (What We Do in the Shadows), Dom Littrich, Kathleen O’Dwyer, Will Ward, Benjamin Cremen, Sarah Michaels, and Nariman Dein round out the cast.
Catherine Stone and Susan Taylor co-direct from a script by Taylor.
Taylor and Bianca Austin produce under their Thundercat Productions banner along with Stone via Crybaby. The picture is independently financed by the producers and is also raising funds through the Australian Cultural Fund.
“I wanted to make a film in the spirit of those iconic and incredibly original Aussie comedies we all grew up watching, and luckily, I found a crew of absolute legends who wanted to jump in and help me do it,” Taylor said. “The world certainly needs more laughter right now.”
“On the surface it’s loud and dangerous, but underneath it’s about ego and the cost of chasing validation in a world obsessed with going viral,” Stone added. “You’ll be laughing hard with dips of fear.”
“It’s raw, funny, tense and feels like the missing piece to Aussie film,” Haddad commented. “I also love that it puts second generation Australians front and center, which we don’t see enough of in Australian movies and TV.”
Bloody Legend enters principal photography in Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains of New South Wales this month.
Top row (L-R): Hamze Taha, Yaz Haddad, Marcus Trgo. Second row (L-R): Catherine Stone, Susan Taylor, Bianca Austin, Tony Rahme