I'm not out any money, only time, because I got this DVD as a free rental from my local library. The description on the DVD box makes it seem like a scary thriller but it is not at all. It is a story of an unlikely relationship between Hester, an older spinster woman and Kathy, a young and carefree girl who is hired and brought home as her assistant. The entire film has a blue cast to it, I presume to set the blue mood of the story. Set in Australia, there is nothing particularly new in it, and nothing particularly uplifting. Add to that rather slow and dull direction and you have a film that few will actually enjoy.
some SPOILERS follow, read further at your own risk of future surprise.
Kathy comes across as a shallow dimwit, similar to her role as Dimity in Love Serenade. But in fact she is very wily, and agrees to become Hester's assistant, and apparent love interest, only because she is after Hester's fortune. (They sleep in the same bed, but are never show in intimacy, which probably never occurred.) After Kathy poisons the old and senile father, she manipulates Hester to sell the inherited homestead and land, against her brother's wishes, and insists on loads of cash, most to finance a trip the two women are planning to Europe and America. Hester hides all the cash in two or three tins above the breakfront, not worrying because strangers never come to the isolated cottage she now lives in.
After a dance in town, Kathy persuades Hester to let her drive home. Going too fast, she purposely runs down a man and they decide to dump him into the old, dry well, rather than jeopardizing their planned trip by alerting the police. Kathy acts very disturbed by all this but in fact orchestrated the whole thing to mask the fact that she had stolen all Hester's money. Back home, Hester finds an opened container, then checks to find ALL the cash gone. Kathy fools her into believing that the man they ran down was the thief, and now all the money was at the bottom of the well. Kathy goes further in her deception, saying she hears a voice from the well, lowering food to the dead man, all to keep Hester from suspecting her.
It rains, the body floats up, Hester pushes it down, some neighbors show up to help her repair the well top, and seal it in. Hester is distraught, all her money is gone, there will be no trip with Kathy, and she will be lonely again. Kathy is happy, she has all the money, and as she leaves Hester can meet her girlfriend who is getting out of jail, and spend some time figuring out the next scam she will pull to get more money.
So, we end up with a tale of a miserable middle-aged woman who falls for a young twit, loses all in bad decision-making, and is facing a stark life. And of a smart young con artist who gets away with it. What's to like about this movie? I kept waiting for it to be good and it never made it there.