The Decadent and Depraved (2018)

Ben Mortley plays Leon Murphey, a former solder who finds a bounty on his head and turns himself in because he fears for his family’s safety.

Turns out those fears were well-founded thanks to a wealthy land owner named Maitland (Steve Turner), who likes to think he rules this corner of Western Australia.

He sends his henchmen after Murphey, determined to collect that bounty for himself. Instead, they wind up killing Murphey’s wife and kidnapping his young daughter.

Knowing none of this, Murphey finds himself in the hands of Capt. Dalton (Michael Muntz), who’s supposed to deliver him for a proper hanging.

Turns out Murphey slit the throats of four men who beat and killed a young friend of his, all because the 9-year-old boy was black.

In Capt. Dalton, he finds another “moral man” trapped in an “immoral world” where people are judged by the color of their skin rather than their value as human beings.

But that doesn’t mean Dalton is going to let Murphey ride off on the vengeance trail once he learns the fate of the very wife and daughter he was trying to protect by turning himself over for execution.

Ben Mortley as Leon Murphey, a man willing to hang to save his family in The Decadent and Depraved (2018)

Michael Muntz as Capt. Dalton, the man responsible for delivering Murphey for hanging in The Decadent and Depraved (2018)

Review:

Here’s a film pervaded in dark humor. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it’s way too overdone, like at the dinner party Maitland hosts near the end of the film.

Ben Mortley is convincing in the lead role and Michael Muntz suitably grizzled as the longtime servant of the law just doing his duty.

But Maitland isn’t very convincing as the villain of the piece. And wait until you see the overweight and aging re-enactors who show up in the nick of time for the final showdown.

The best scene comes when Murphey strings up one of Maitland’s henchmen, determined to get information on his daughter’s whereabouts.

Said henchman has a wound in his thigh, and Murphey keeps poking a stick into the bullet hole as a form of torture. Dalton doesn’t mind one little bit.

Steve Turner as Maitland, the man who believes he’s part of the superior race in The Decadent and Depraved (2018)

Isabella Jaqueline as Lillian Murphey, Leon’s daughter being held captive by Maitland in The Decadent and Depraved (2018)

Directed by:
Axel August and Jordon Prince-Wright

Cast:
Ben Mortley … Leon Murphey
Michael Muntz … Capt. Dalton
Steve Turner … Maitland
Clarence Ryan … Coen / Aboriginal Hunter
Isabella Jaqueline … Lillian Murphey
Mitchell Page … Ellis
Dean McAskil … Big
Kingsley Judd … Prison guard
Davilla O’Connor … Mrs. M
Noel O’Neill … Jerry
Robert Hartburn … Maj. Longhorn
Nathan Hambly … Vin Adams
Kelly Belinda Hammond … Ann Murphey

Runtime: 100 min.

Mitchell Page as Ellis, a Maitland henchmen being tortured for information in The Decadent and Depraved (2018)

Ben Mortley as Leon Murphey, looking to free his daughter from the hands of Maitland in The Decadent and Depraved (2018)

Memorable lines:

Capt. Dalton: “You know what, Mr. Murphey, I’ve seen them all. Gunslingers, bushrangers, thieves. And you know the one thing they all have in common?”
Leon Murphey: “What’s that?”
Dalton: “At the end of the day, when the noose is tied and displayed before their eyes, they all turn into what we all once were — whimpering babies. And you, Mr. Murphey, will be no different.”

Leon Murphey: “Captain, do you think a morale man can maintain his conscience in an immoral land?”
Capt. Dalton: “That I don’t know, Mr. Murphey. But one thing I do know is that the law must be upheld. Because if it’s not, the only judge in this land will be the gun on our hips. And that, Mr. Murphey, would be a descent into madness.”

Ellis, as he’s being tortured by Murphey: “Arrest him! Arrest this man!”
Capt. Dalton: “This man saved my life. The least I can do is let him poke you a little (in a gun wound).”

Maitland: “Let us not forget, that it is with the guidance of the Lord that our seed will survive and the savages will be annihilated. Let them live in fear. And let us live long and prosperous lives.”