Dull Supernatural Slasher The Burning of Broken Beak (PANIC) Doesn’t Deliver on Exciting Concept
Title: The Burning of Broken Beak
First Non-Festival Release: TBD
Director: Christian Carroll
Writer: Christian Carroll
Runtime: 90 Minutes
Starring: Briar Rose, Lydia Peckham, Katlyn Wong
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
This film’s review was written after its screening at the Panic Film Festival in 2026.
Indigenous people all across the globe have to fight against all aspects of society just to live their lives in accordance with their values and beliefs. While the struggles and history of each group is unique, the impacts of colonization still reverberate to this day.
Following the death of her adoptive father, Emma (Briar Rose) travels back to her home of New Zealand along with her girlfriend Jackie (Lydia Peckham). Once there, Emma is informed of an inheritance. It stipulates she must stay one month in the property her father bequeathed to her in order to receive the full amount. Her stay is met with a chilly reception from her greedy relatives, as well as the police. A string of murders that tie back to the family patriarch’s death lands Emma as the number one suspect all the while a mysterious bird-like figure named Broken Beak appears from the shadows to taunt her, further complicating her stay.
Good intentions cannot mask the messiness behind mediocre supernatural slasher The Burning of Broken Beak.
Emma’s journey home and subsequent enmeshment in various petty personal squabbles portends just how dark her homecoming will be. Bickering half siblings, mysterious nighttime visitors, and a racist police force are just some of the problems Emma faces. It gets worse when she’s framed for murder and her girlfriend runs off to the coast to catch some waves. The Burning of Broken Beak relies on Emma’s isolation but doesn’t do much of anything interesting with this plot point. Forced to conduct her own investigation to clear her name and better understand her family history, Emma’s creeping around doesn’t do much but further incriminate her. It becomes a frustrating exercise in characters making questionable decisions for the sake of plot development.
As a character, Emma is underbaked in many respects. Proud of her heritage and fierce in her beliefs, it feels strange, almost inconceivable, that she would have a partner as daft, self-absorbed, and unserious as Jackie. This may speak to Emma’s desire for autonomy and tendency to carve her own path, but the matching is head-scratching from the beginning without much explanation. Little character inconsistencies like this add up throughout the entirety of The Burning of Broken Beak, mitigating any effect the horror can have.
An allegory for the theft of land and the treatment of Indigenous people, The Burning of Broken Beak attempts to marry these abuses to the supernatural slasher formula. Broken Beak acts as a vengeful figure going after the colonizers who stole and continue to steal land, amongst other abuses. As the story continues, however, Broken Beak’s motivations become blurrier before exploding in a confounding confrontation in the film’s finale. Regardless of the implementation, there’s still plenty to comment on regarding the treatment of Indigenous people in New Zealand. Some of these moments shine through, especially when interrogating the ways in which police treat Emma and the specific environmental effects that tourism and colonization encourage.
It’s not all a wash; The Burning of Broken Beak averts catastrophe by focusing on crafting its atmosphere in service of the film’s darker elements. The design of the film’s titular baddie is inspired to say the least. Adorned in brilliant black feathers and almost always filmed in this dream-like veneer, Broken Beak steals the scene every scene she arrives onscreen. Her actual actions leave more to be desired but from a visual point of view it doesn’t take too much away from her presence. It’s attention to these elements that elevates The Burning of Broken Beak just a bit more than the average human independent horror film.
An underwhelming supernatural slasher, The Burning of Broken Beak has great ideas but is consistently stymied by its plot and production values. A capable, if uneven, leading performance by Briar Rose and some inspired dream sequences ensure that The Burning of Broken Beak isn’t all bad. Still, the muddled story, messy kills, and tonal inconsistencies make it hard to get fully behind the production.
Overall Score? 4/10
