The Moogai: Meyne Wyatt stars in Indigenous horror film based around darkest chapters of Australian history

The inter-generational trauma inflicted on the Stolen Generations is one of the darkest chapters of Australian history, and now this real-life horror forms the basis of an award-winning new Indigenous horror movie, The Moogai. The movie won the $100,000 film prize at WA’s CinefestOZ earlier this year, and its theatrical release was timed to coincide with Halloween, where this low-budget Aussie film will compete at the box office with high-profile Hollywood genre fare, such as Smile 2. What The Moogai lacks in funding, it more than makes up for with its titular creature, a malevolent spirit in Bundjalung language that preys on a young Indigenous couple in the film, Sarah and Fergus, played by Shari Sebbens (The Sapphires) and WA’s Meyne Wyatt (Redfern Now). Wyatt says he deliberately avoided seeing the creature, in renderings or rehearsal, until he saw it for the first time in a scene. “I wanted that initial visceral reaction to the creature so you could get that on camera and not be wasted in the rehearsal,” Wyatt tells The West Australian. “So, yeah, when we got for filming, it was like, ‘Bang’, and then I jumped back.” Director Jon Bell, a Bundjalung/Wiradjuri man, was inspired by Hollywood horror auteur Jordan Peele, who has found incredible success exploring social injustice in films such as Get Out and Us. Peele’s films have generated more than $1 billion at the global box office, while shining an often satirical but always harsh spotlight on racial inequality in America. The Moogai attempts something similar, opening with a harrowing scene from the 1960s of children being taken by white men from their home on an Aboriginal mission. Decades later, Sarah and Fergus face their own daily battle with systemic racism, while also facing the growing threat of a supernatural creature intent on stealing their newborn child. There haven’t been many Indigenous-led horror films in Australian cinema, and The Moogai could be the first to channel Peele’s approach. “We’ve seen Rabbit Proof Fence, we’ve seen these dramas that have explored the issues of the Stolen Generation and racism,” Wyatt explains. “But I think when you do it in another way (like Peele) you bring the audience along with you, and then you do the bait-and-switch, I suppose ... and it’s leaving it up to you, rather than hammering you over the head with what we’re talking about.” The Wongutha-Yamatji actor was born in Kalgoorlie and trained at the prestigious NIDA, before embarking on a successful career on stage and screen. Wyatt went viral in 2020, when he performed a monologue on racism from his play, City of Gold, on the ABC’s Q&A. So, he knows first-hand how the arts can play a critical role in giving a voice to First Nations people. “I waited until I had a platform to then really speak about some of the things that I wanted to, because you don’t want to cut your nose off to spite yourself,” he says. “I wanted to make sure that I had a nose to cut.” The actor says doing The Moogai sparked a conversation with his own mother, where she revealed for the first time that she was a member of the Stolen Generation, which underscores just how prevalent this trauma is in Indigenous Australia. “That’s the visceral horror that Jon is talking about with The Moogai; he wants people to takeaway that this is horrible,” Wyatt says. “This is horror, and it is bigger than any monster, because this is real life.” The Moogai is in theatres now.