TOMORROW, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN

Year: 2010
USA: Freestyle Releasing
UK: Paramount Pictures UK
Cast: Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis, Christopher Pang, Andrew Ryan, Deniz Akdeniz, Ashleigh Cummings, Phoebe Tonkin, Colin Friels, Stephen Bourke
Director: Stuart Beattie
Countries: Australia / USA
USA & UK: 103 mins
USA Rated: R for some violence
UK Certificate: 12A contains infrequent strong language, bloody images and soft drug use
USA Release Date: 24 February 2012 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 8 April 2011

Synopsis

The film follows the journey of eight high school friends in a remote country town whose lives are suddenly and violently upended by a war that no one saw coming. Cut off from their families and their friends, these eight extraordinary teenagers must learn to escape, survive and fight back against hostile military forces.

Stuck helping her parents on their country farm, 17 year-old Ellie Linton (Caitlin Stasey) plans one last adventure before school holidays end â€" a camping trip to a remote vegetated sinkhole located in the bush that the locals have ominously dubbed Hell.

Having arranged to borrow her parents Land Rover, Ellie invites several of her school mates along for the adventure. Best friend Corrie (Rachel Hurd-Wood) and her boyfriend Kevin (Lincoln Lewis), Fiona (Phoebe Tonkin); Homer (Deniz Akdeniz); Robyn (Ashleigh Cummings) and Lee (Chris Pang) set off to enjoy themselves.

When they arrive at Hell they find a lush, idyllic paradise awaiting them. The sinkhole turns out to be a hidden paradise, complete with a stream and waterfall â€" the perfect location for friendships to be forged and romances to blossom. Over the next week, the outside world becomes a distant memory â€" that is until a several squads of low-flying jets make an unexpected appearance in the night sky.

Returning to their small hometown of Wirrawee, the seven teenagers soon realise something is dreadfully wrong. The town is without power, pets and livestock have been left dead or dying and, most alarmingly of all, all their parents have vanished.