{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2015}} {{Infobox film | name = Kadiacha | image = Kadaicha1988dvdcover.jpg | caption = Double feature DVD cover + ''[[Innocent Prey]]'' | director = [[James Bogle]] | producer = [[David Hannay (producer)|David Hannay]]<br>Charles Hannah | writer = Ian Coughlan | based_on = | narrator = | starring = [[Zoe Carides]]<br>Tom Jennings<br>[[Eric Oldfield (actor)|Eric Oldfield]]<br>Natalie McCurry<br>[[Steve Dodd]] | music = Peter Westheimer | cinematography = [[Stephen F. Windon]] | editing = Andrew Arestides | studio = David Hannay Productions | distributor = CBS-Fox (video) | released = {{Film date|1988}} | runtime = 88 minutes | country = Australia | language = English | budget = A$600,000 (est.) | gross = }} '''''Kadaicha''''' (known '''''Stones of Death''''' in the U.S.) is a 1988 Australian [[horror film]] directed by [[James Bogle]] and produced by [[David Hannay (producer)|David Hannay]]. It was released on video.
==Plot== A series of unexplained of teenage murders occurs in an exclusive residential development. It is discovered that the development has been constructed on top of an old [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal]] burial ground.
==Cast== *[[Zoe Carides]] as Gail Sorensen *[[Eric Oldfield (actor)|Eric Oldfield]] as Alex Sorensen *Tom Jennings as Matt Taylor *[[Natalie McCurry]] as Tracy Hocking *Kerry McKay as Shane *Fiona Gauntlett as Fizz Dryden *Bruce Hughes as Tony Pirrello *[[Steve Dodd]] as Billinudgel * [[Deborah Kennedy]] as Mrs Millhouse * [[Sean Scully (actor)|Sean Scully]] as Mr Fitzgerald * John Paramor as Detective Rose * Nicholas Ryan as Franky Boland * [[Rhoda Roberts]] as Lisa * Sara Dakin as Deb Hartley * Harry Cripps as Jeff Cross * Terry Markwell as Gloria * Nicholas Flanagan as Constable Todd * Don Chapman as Sergeant Hanley * Alan Lovell as Constable O’Bersky * [[Anthony Ackroyd]] as Constable Pritchard
==Production== ''Kadaicha'' was directed by James Bogle, in his feature film debut,<ref name=moria>{{cite web | title=Kadaicha (1988) | website=Moria - The Science Fiction | date=6 July 2017 | url=https://moriareviews.com/horror/kadaicha-1988.htm | access-date=23 March 2026}}</ref> for producer [[David Hannay (producer)|David Hannay]], who was producing low-budget commercial films at the time. There was an interest in Aboriginal themes during the late 1980s.<ref name="signet">[https://archive.today/20130112094751/http://www.signis.net/malone/tiki-index.php?page=James+Bogle&bl "Interview with James Bogle", ''Signet'', 7 October 1998]</ref> It was the last of four low-budget films made by executive producer [[Tom Broadbridge]] and producer David Hannay for the video market,<ref name="stratton2">[[David Stratton]], ''The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry'', Pan MacMillan, 1990 p295-296</ref> and produced via David Hannay Productions.<ref name=as/>
Charles Hannah co-produced the film, which was based on a screenplay by Ian Coughlan. [[Cinematography]] was by [[Stephen F. Windon]], and Andrew Aristedes edited the film. The original score was composed by Peter Westheimer.<ref name=eofftv>{{cite web | last=Lyons | first=Kevin | title=Kadaicha | website=The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television | date=25 August 2025 | url=https://eofftv.com/kadaicha-1988/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260323012039/https://eofftv.com/kadaicha-1988/ | archive-date=23 March 2026 | url-status=live | access-date=23 March 2026}}</ref><ref name=as>{{cite web | title=Kadaicha|series=The Screen Guide | website=Screen Australia | url=https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/the-screen-guide/t/kadaicha-1987/687/ | access-date=23 March 2026}}</ref>
''Kadaicha'' was filmed on location in [[Sydney]], Australia,<ref name=eofftv/><ref>Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford University Press, 1996, p95</ref> on a budget of an estimated {{AUD|600,000}}.<ref name="stratton2"/>
The title derives from the device used in the film, called "kadaicha stone".<ref name=moria/> The word is a variant spelling of "[[kurdaitcha]]", which in the lore of some Aboriginal peoples in central Australia was a kind of magic man or evil being who killed people.<ref>{{cite web | title=Kurdaitcha | website=[[Museum of Vancouver]] | url=https://openmovportal.ca/argus/final/Portal/Main.aspx?component=AAFG&record=df44c5f3-8376-4877-85d2-73d5ef6258a2 | access-date=23 March 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Musharbash | first=Yasmine | title=Here be Kurdaitcha: Towards an Ethnography of the Monstrous in the Margins of a Central Australian Aboriginal Town | journal=Places and Spaces of Monstrosity, edited by Craig Douglas and Rosalea Monacella | date=1 January 2014 | url=https://www.academia.edu/11000884/Here_be_Kurdaitcha_Towards_an_Ethnography_of_the_Monstrous_in_the_Margins_of_a_Central_Australian_Aboriginal_Town | access-date=23 March 2026 | page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title='Kurdaitcha' | website=SA Museum | date=1 January 1912 | url=https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/collection/archives/provenances/series/items/aa-108-50-1-1-62 | access-date=23 March 2026}}</ref>
==Release== Some sources suggest that it was originally intended for cinematic release,<ref name=bmovie>{{cite web | title=Review: Kadaicha (1988) – The B-Movie Film Vault | website=The B-Movie Film Vault| date=2017 | url=https://bmoviefilmvault.com/review-kadaicha-1988/ | access-date=23 March 2026}}</ref> but ''Kadaicha'' was released on video in 1988,<ref name="stratton2"/> in the United States under the title ''Stones of Death'', and in the Netherlands as ''Death Stone – Kadaicha''. Other European countries gave it similar titles in translation.<ref name=eofftv/>
The film was distributed internationally by Broadstar Entertainment Corporation.<ref name=as/>
It was released on DVD in October 2017 by [[Umbrella Entertainment]] in Australia,<ref name=bechaz>{{cite web | last=Bechaz | first=Kevin | title=Umbrella Entertainment: KADAICHA & INNOCENT PREY | website=cinematic randomness | date=8 October 2017 | url=https://www.cinematicrandomness.com/umbrella-entertainment-kadaicha-innocent-prey/ | access-date=23 March 2026}}</ref> and as part of a box set titled ''All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror'' by [[Severin Films]] in 2021.<ref>{{cite web | title=All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Vol. 1 [15-Disc Blu-ray Box Set] | website=Severin Films | date=22 March 2026 | url=https://severinfilms.com/en-au/products/folk-horror-box?srsltid=AfmBOoom6wxl1Q_VkT3hiUc5Kj0HqMu3z_x4R8QpZH3GB9qzFQgNzMyt | access-date=23 March 2026}}</ref>
==Reception== The film received mixed reviews on its re-release. Kevin Bechaz gave it 3 out of 5 stars, calling it enjoyable for what it is – "genre cinema at its most obscure".<ref name=bechaz/> Another reviewer called it "a forgettable teen horror flick", but liked its "message about the consequences of greed and self-interest, and how innocent lives can be lost as a result", and for its exposure of the "lack of respect for Aboriginal lore and sacred territory, the history of past conflicts between white colonialists and Aboriginal people.<ref>{{cite web | title=Kadaicha: a forgettable teen horror flick from the late 1980s – Under Southern Eyes | website=Under Southern Eyes – A personal journal of film and documentary reviews | date=26 August 2018 | url=https://undersoutherneyes.edpinsent.com/kadaicha/ | access-date=23 March 2026}}</ref> At least two reviewers noted its borrowing from the 1982 American horror film directed by [[Tobe Hooper]], ''[[Poltergeist (1982 film)|Poltergeist]]''.<ref name=bmovie/><ref name=bechaz/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0095423}} *[https://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/kadaicha Kadaicha] at Oz Movies
[[Category:Australian horror films]] [[Category:1988 direct-to-video films]] [[Category:Films about Aboriginal Australians]] [[Category:1988 horror films]] [[Category:1988 films]] [[Category:1988 English-language films]] [[Category:1988 Australian films]] [[Category:English-language horror films]]