This Film really Grabs you from the very Start.the "Subject" Himself seems to be one of Lifes Sad Losers,and you simply know that something is going to happen that will finally tip Him over the Edge,the culmination of a Series of small seemingly Trivial events leads the "Subject" spiralling down into Mental Illness and the Final acts of random Murders of those who he percieves as His Tormentors.A Disturbing and Unsettling Film which probes the Fine line between Sanity and Insanity.

In 1990 in a small town called Aramoana,New Zealand local eccentric David Gray(Matt Sunderland)picked up a rifle and killed 13 of his neighbours in a 22 hour rampage before being taken out by armed police.
Sensitively handled by director Robert Sarkies,Out of the Blue should be the textbook on how to portray a real life tragedy on screen.Eschewing any type of obvious manipulative device(until the end)he uses sound very cleverly and stunning images of the local area to paint a picture of a fairly dormant and care worn town surrounded by an abundance of natural beauty which is destroyed in one day by one man's mania.
Unbearably tense and shocking with pitch perfect performances aided by Annie Collins' superb edit, Out of the blue has an almost documentary feel to it which gives it such an authentic feel as to rule out any crass sentimentality or sensationalism that could have marred this film.
A credit to all concerned and to you if you buy this film.
Quite brilliant.

Sometimes, movies are made to exorcise ghosts. I can imagine that New Zealanders found the events portrayed in this movie extremely traumatic. After all, a rampaging gun-wielding maniac is not something you'd expect in this lovely and safe country.

The level of detail and the matter of fact way the director tells this story is astonishing and goes a long way to making the characters real. The acting isn't at all bad.

The event itself, however, is something that we are seeing more and more often. I couldn't drum up the interest, and the subject depresses me. I hear enough about complete maniacs and nutjobs on the news (in the politics section, mostly) and don't really need to sit through a "dramatised" version of it.

I guess you will either love or hate this one. It comes down to whether you think the subject matter is relevant enough to put in a movie.

This is not a pleasant film to watch due to the nature of the content. However, it is a very good one. I felt that the pace is a bit slow in the beginning and wasn't able to follow it. It does try to recapture the essence of the event and they did it very well.

The acting is well played and certainly you felt the emotion that is going through both victim, the police and the community. It does make you think what the actual event, the folks that went through it must have felt.

Overall a good film. Albeit may make you felt slighly subdued afters!

This film is an understated gem. After a rather slow opening 25 minutes the plot eventually begins to gather pace and a very realistic and sympathetic account of the Aramoana massacre of November 1990 unfolds. Great care has been taken by the director not to sensationalise the massacre and therefore there are no over the top Hollywood style pyrotechnics and such like. The acting, much like the film as a whole, is understated and this adds to the realism.

Packed with some of the most extensive and best extras I've seen on a DVD (which show original footage and news reportage), this film is recommended.