Australian drama and thriller films — from the outback to the urban edge.
Best Australian Movies — 44 entries in the australian cinema category, sortable by Title, Year, Director. Every row is ranked by community votes, giving you a crowd-sourced perspective you won't find on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Lion
2016
Garth Davis
8
Drama
Australia
118
A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
Mary and Max
2009
Adam Elliot
7.9
Animation, Comedy, Drama
Australia
92
A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.
Upgrade
2018
Leigh Whannell
7.5
Action, Thriller, Science Fiction
Australia
100
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skil...
Moulin Rouge!
2001
Baz Luhrmann
7.5
Drama, Romance, Music
Australia
128
A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.
Elvis
2022
Baz Luhrmann
7.5
Drama, Music, History
Australia
159
The life story of Elvis Presley as seen through the complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Hotel Mumbai
2019
Anthony Maras
7.5
Thriller, History, Drama, Action
Australia
123
Mumbai, India, November 26, 2008. While several terrorists spread hatred and death through the city, others attack the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Both hotel staff and guests risk their lives, making unthinkable sacrifices to protect themselves and keep everyone safe while help arrives.
Predestination
2014
Michael Spierig
7.4
Science Fiction, Thriller
Australia
98
Predestination chronicles the life of a Temporal Agent sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to prevent future killers from committing their crimes. Now, on his final assignment, the Agent must stop the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time and prevent a devastat...
Mad Max 2
1981
George Miller
7.4
Adventure, Action, Thriller, Science Fiction
Australia
96
Max Rockatansky returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defendants of a fuel-depot encampment are the bizarre warriors commanded by the charismatic Lord Humungus, ...
The Piano
1993
Jane Campion
7.4
Drama, Romance
Australia
120
When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited daughter to the wilderness of nineteenth-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband and a rugged frontiersman to whom she develops a forbidden attraction.
Saving Mr. Banks
2013
John Lee Hancock
7.3
Comedy, Drama, History
Australia
126
Author P.L. Travers looks back on her childhood while reluctantly meeting with Walt Disney, who seeks to adapt her Mary Poppins books for the big screen.
The King
2019
David Michôd
7.2
Drama, History, War
Australia
140
England, 15th century. Hal, a capricious prince who lives among the populace far from court, is forced by circumstances to reluctantly accept the throne and become Henry V.
Escape from Pretoria
2020
Francis Annan
7.2
Drama, History, Thriller
Australia
102
South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.
The Invisible Man
2020
Leigh Whannell
7.1
Thriller, Science Fiction, Horror
Australia
124
When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.
The Dressmaker
2015
Jocelyn Moorhouse
7
Drama, Comedy, Western
Australia
118
In 1950s Australia, beautiful, talented dressmaker Tilly returns to her tiny hometown to right wrongs from her past. As she tries to reconcile with her mother, she starts to fall in love while transforming the fashion of the town.
Boy Erased
2018
Joel Edgerton
7
Drama
Australia
115
Jared, the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, is outed to his parents at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith.
Three Thousand Years of Longing
2022
George Miller
6.9
Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Australia
108
A solitary scholar discovers an ancient bottle while on a trip to Istanbul and unleashes a djinn who offers her three wishes. Filled with reluctance, she is unable to come up with one, so the djinn tries to inspire her with his stories.
Romeo + Juliet
1996
Baz Luhrmann
6.8
Drama, Romance
Australia
120
In director Baz Luhrmann's contemporary take on William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in love and secretly wed. Though the film is visually modern, the bard's dialogue r...
The Water Diviner
2014
Russell Crowe
6.8
War, Drama
Australia
112
In 1919, Australian farmer Joshua Connor travels to Turkey to discover the fate of his three sons, reported missing in action. Holding on to hope, Joshua must travel across the war-torn landscape to find the truth and his own peace.
Mad Max
1979
George Miller
6.7
Adventure, Action, Thriller, Science Fiction
Australia
91
In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police force hell-bent on stopping them.
The Gift
2015
Joel Edgerton
6.7
Thriller, Mystery, Drama
Australia
108
Simon and Robyn are a young married couple whose life is going as planned until a chance run-in with Simon's high school acquaintance sends their world into a tailspin.
The Power of the Dog
2021
Jane Campion
6.7
Drama, Western
Australia
127
A domineering but charismatic rancher wages a war of intimidation on his brother's new wife and her teen son, until long-hidden secrets come to light.
I Am Mother
2019
Grant Sputore
6.7
Science Fiction, Thriller
Australia
113
A teenage girl is raised underground by a robot "Mother", designed to repopulate the earth following an extinction event. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news.
Slow West
2015
John Maclean
6.7
Western, Drama, Adventure, Romance
Australia
84
In the Old West, a 17-year-old Scottish boy teams up with a mysterious gunman to find the woman with whom he is infatuated.
Australia
2008
Baz Luhrmann
6.6
Adventure, Romance, Drama
Australia
165
Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwi...
Jungle
2017
Greg McLean
6.6
Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Australia
115
In 1981, an enthusiastic young adventurer follows his dreams into the Bolivian Amazon jungle with two friends and a guide with a mysterious past. Their journey quickly turns into a terrifying ordeal as the darkest elements of human nature and the deadliest threats of the wilderness lead to an all...
The Babadook
2014
Jennifer Kent
6.5
Drama, Horror
Australia
94
A grieving single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book manifests in their home.
Ticket to Paradise
2022
Ol Parker
6.4
Drama, Comedy, Romance
Australia
104
Divorced couple Georgia and David find themselves on a shared mission: they team up and travel to Bali to stop their daughter Lily from making the same mistake they once made 25 years ago.
Possessor
2020
Brandon Cronenberg
6.4
Horror, Thriller, Science Fiction
Australia
103
Tasya Vos, an elite corporate assassin, uses brain-implant technology to take control of other people’s bodies to terminate high profile targets. As she sinks deeper into her latest assignment, Vos becomes trapped inside a mind that threatens to obliterate her.
The Shallows
2016
Jaume Collet-Serra
6.3
Horror, Drama, Thriller
Australia
86
While surfing on a secluded beach, Nancy finds herself in the feeding grounds of a great white shark. Though stranded only 200 yards from shore, survival proves to be the ultimate test of wills, requiring all of her ingenuity, resourcefulness, and fortitude.
Babe
1995
Chris Noonan
6.3
Fantasy, Drama, Comedy, Family
Australia
92
Babe is a little pig who doesn't quite know his place in the world. With a bunch of odd friends, like Ferdinand the duck who thinks he is a rooster and Fly the dog he calls mum, Babe realises that he has the makings to become the greatest sheep pig of all time, and Farmer Hoggett knows it. With t...
Killer Elite
2011
Gary McKendry
6.3
Action, Adventure, Thriller
Australia
116
Based on a shocking true story, Killer Elite pits two of the world’s most elite operatives—Danny, an ex-special ops agent and Hunter, his longtime mentor—against the cunning leader of a secret military society. Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunt...
The Rover
2014
David Michôd
6.3
Crime, Drama
Australia
103
Ten years after a severe economic collapse in the western world, lawlessness reigns and life is cheap. Eric is a lone drifter, and his car is his only possession. When a gang steals it, Eric comes across the injured Rey, left behind by the car thieves. The pair form an unlikely and uneasy alliance.
Wolf Creek
2005
Greg McLean
6.2
Horror, Thriller
Australia
99
Three backpackers stranded in the Australian outback are plunged inside a hellish nightmare of insufferable torture by a sadistic psychopathic local.
Blacklight
2022
Mark Williams
6.2
Action, Thriller, Adventure
Australia
104
Travis Block is a shadowy Government agent who specializes in removing operatives whose covers have been exposed. He then has to uncover a deadly conspiracy within his own ranks that reaches the highest echelons of power.
Ghost Ship
2002
Steve Beck
6
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Australia
91
After discovering a passenger ship missing since 1962 floating adrift on the Bering Sea, salvagers claim the vessel as their own. Once they begin towing the ghost ship towards harbor, a series of bizarre occurrences happen and the group becomes trapped inside the ship, which they soon learn is in...
2:22
2017
Paul Currie
6
Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Romance
Australia
99
Two planes almost collide after a blinding flash of light paralyzes air traffic controller Dylan Branson for a few seconds. Suspended from his job, Dylan starts to notice an ominous pattern of sounds and events that repeats itself in exactly the same manner every day, ending precisely at 2:22 p.m...
Winchester
2018
Michael Spierig
5.9
Horror, Thriller
Australia
100
San Jose, California, 1906. Isolated in her labyrinthine mansion, eccentric firearm heiress Sarah Winchester believes that she is being haunted by the souls of those killed by the guns manufactured by her company.
Brahms: The Boy II
2020
William Brent Bell
5.9
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Australia
87
After a family moves into the Heelshire Mansion, their young son soon makes friends with a life-like doll called Brahms.
Eight Legged Freaks
2002
Ellory Elkayem
5.8
Action, Comedy, Horror, Thriller
Australia
99
The residents of a rural mining town discover that an unfortunate chemical spill has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate overnight to the size of SUVs. It's then up to mining engineer Chris McCormack and Sheriff Sam Parker to mobilize an eclectic group of townspeople, including the Sherif...
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The Best Australian Movies list is ranked by community votes. Every visitor can pick one option over another in head-to-head matchups, and the running totals determine the order you see. No editors or algorithms — just real people voting.
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This dataset contains 44 entries, each with multiple sortable, filterable columns. The full table is visible on this page and can be downloaded as a CSV, JSON, or Excel file.
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