Hartley spent several years writing a detailed research document, which served to some degree as a script for the film, about the New Wave era of Australian cinema.

From 1971 through to the late 1980s, Australian directors began to take advantage of the newly introduced R-rating which allowed more on-screen nudity, sex and violence for audiences restricted to age 18 and over.

Then I saw this movie Patrick, about a telekinetic coma victim, on commercial TV late one night and it thrilled, excited and downright scared me, just like the horror films made in the U.S. but with our voices, faces and places.

As a child, Mark Hartley discovered many of the "Ozploitation" B-movies from the 1970s and '80s while watching late-night television, but was disappointed when they were completely overlooked in books he read detailing Australian cinema.

[4] After becoming an accomplished music video director, his interest in this era of Australian filmmaking grew and he spent years researching a potential documentary film.

[6] Its Australia-wide release was a month later, on 28 August 2008, and it had its overseas premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2008, where distribution rights were secured for the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Russia, Germany and Benelux.

"[7] while Leigh Paatsch wrote for the Herald Sun that "there is not a single instant where boredom can possibly intrude", dubbing the film "an incredibly energetic and merrily messed-up celebration of Australian B-movies".