Set during the sweltering Australian summer of 1986, Penny Lane is Dead is the ferocious debut feature from writer-director Mia’Kate Russell. Penny Lane (Bailey Spalding) and her best friends Toni (Tahlee Fereday) and Amy (Alexandra Jensen) are celebrating Penny’s university acceptance with a debauched ‘no dick event’ at a remote beach house. But the night spirals into chaos when Penny’s volatile cousin Kat (Sophia Wright-Mendelsohn) arrives uninvited, spiked cupcake in hand and a cruel agenda in tow. Things turn deadly with the arrival of Kat’s seedy boyfriend Angus (Ben O’Toole) and his crew - Rodowsky (Fletcher Humphrys) and the menacing Merrick (Steve Le Marquand).

What begins as a night of celebration unravels into a brutal fight for survival. Fuelled by punk-rock energy and pitch-black humour, Penny Lane is Dead tears into internalised misogyny, toxic masculinity and the gendered violence simmering beneath Australia’s sunburnt surface. With breakout performances and razor-sharp direction, Mia’Kate Russell delivers a bold, blood-soaked genre piece that blends savage satire with cult-cinema attitude - an electrifying new voice in Australian film.