Based on real-life events, Hounds of Love is a brutal psychological thriller about a missing Australian teenage girl, centring on the relationship of a married couple who abduct and murder random victims.
When, after an innocent lapse in judgment, 17-year-old Vicky gets in the car of a disturbed couple in suburban Perth she has no way of knowing that her days are numbered. Namely, behind the façade of a reserved pair lurks a serial killer couple who abduct and mutilate young women. With her murder imminent, Vicky realises she must find a way to drive a wedge between the heartless husband and wife if she is to survive.
“I read a book on female serial killers and I just found it fascinating because in the research that I did, women tend to kill for very different reasons than men. I also discovered the horrible phenomenon of couples that kill together. It usually involved psychopathic men and very vulnerable women. The man would find this vulnerable person and build her up and then tear her down to the point where she truly believed that she didn't have an identity outside of him. So that's really the psychology I wanted to explore. My intention was to make a movie about the people involved in that kind of thing. This is not a movie about the acts they commit. This is a movie about the people who commit the acts.” (Ben Young)
Ben Young
Born in Perth, Australia, Young began his screen career as an actor at thirteen. This inspired him to complete a BA at Curtin University, specialising in screenwriting, and obtain a Masters at Edith Cowan University in screen direction. He has edited and directed numerous films about people in the remotest regions of the world. He lived with the Wodaabe in Niger and spent two months in the Amazon. Hounds of Love is his first feature.