Blackspot spent last year making its way around the international film festival circuit, scooping up awards and accolades along the way.
But the Kiwi film has yet to been seen in New Zealand cinemas – at least until a one-off screening next week.
For two brothers with more than 20 years' film experience between them, their first feature film has been a long time waiting in the wings.
"It's about two friends trapped on a lost highway, and they get lost in the dark and very nasty things happen to them all night," says director Ben Hawker.
And for a good portion of the movie you're left wondering why.
"Part of the trouble with this movie is that it's convoluted," says Hawker. "We wanted to do something different, we wanted to break ground making our first film and the ground is so broken we can't give away character names, we can't give away the plot."
They say because of those plot subtleties, that second and even third viewings are recommended - if you can stomach it.
"When you're covered in blood and you've got things stuck to you and when you're blinking, it feels like someone's poking you in the eye constantly," says Luke Hawker. "It's not really scary, it's just kind of annoying."
And it's finding our own Kiwiness annoying that's meant greater success overseas.
"New Zealand audiences will see a movie, but it's Kiwi, it's the norm,: says Ben Hawker. "Whereas, it's like the reason Blackspot has had such international success is it's out of the norm and they're not used to Kiwi accents or our situations."
The film was shot in a few short bursts over 18 months in the dark, in the cold and in everybody's spare time, but one of the hardest things to maintain were the waistlines.
"The actors changed like, their styles, and that was quite hard to maintain just to keep the flavour of the film over such a long period," says Luke Hawker. "Yeah, to keep the shots looking the same we'd feed people a whole bunch of sandwiches, so they'd fatten up to match the shots."
Blackspot premieres, for what could be its first and last New Zealand cinema screening, at Wellington's Embassy Theatre next Wednesday.
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