WHITE LIGHTNIN’

Dominic’s debut feature WHITE LIGHTNIN’ premiered at Sundance 2009, also screening at Berlin, Edinburgh and many other festivals that year. Edinburgh IFF called it ‘jaw-dropping, a true original’, The Guardian called it ‘demented genius’.

Inspired by a real story and set in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, White Lightnin’ portrays a disturbed young man whose obsession with his father's murder takes him on a journey of self destruction.

The film appeared in Mark Kermode’s Top Ten films of 2009, scored 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and won multiple awards including the Jury Prize at Fant Asia Film Festival, Best Film and Best Actor at Mumbai IFF (jury headed by Paul Schrader), as well as the Hitchcock D’Or for Best Film at Dinard 2009.

See White Lightnin’ on Amazon Prime US here

Dominic has various TV and film projects in development and has written screenplays for producers and commissioners including Film4.

What they said about White Lightnin’…

VANITY FAIR

A white-trash psychobilly nightmare with midnight movie appeal. The film fictionalizes to the extreme the life of Jesco White, an oddball whose life was chronicled in the cult-fave documentary Dancing Outlaw. British actor Edward Hogg throws himself bravely and unreservedly into the insanity of his character. Inexplicable but inspired casting of Carrie Fisher as "Cilla", the object of the gas huffing, tap dancing, demon-plagued main character's affection.

THE GUARDIAN

Dominic Murphy's White Lightnin' is a demented slice of genius that's about as far away from commercial as you can get. Edward Hogg is magnificent as a glue-sniffing antichrist hillbilly called Jesco White who keeps his violent urges in check by performing on stage. It's based on the life of a fabled mountain dancer and is one of those surreal sand traps that just pulls you in. See it if you can.

EMPIRE

Dominic Murphy’s pseudo-biopic is as visually assured as it is audacious… the use of Hasil Adkins’ frantic rockabilly is as inspired as the casting of Carrie Fisher, who excels as the wife who abandons her family to party with the laudably unhinged Hogg.

LA TIMES

A rollicking terrifying ride… a star-making performance.

LITTLE WHITE LIES

Seething with blighted fervour and over-ripe with religious wrath, the wild, elemental imagery generates something truly disturbing. With its strange religious overtones and inevitably fitful conclusion, White Lightnin' is elusive and bleak.

FINANCIAL TIMES

In White Lightnin', style and content meet, blend and writhe in the memory, a haunting nightmare.

FILM 4

From its bleakly comic beginning to its fire-and-brimstone ending, this artful trailer-trash quasi-biopic will set your heart pounding and your feet tapping.

TOTAL FILM

A psychedelic, sepia-toned horror show, touring the dark corners of his mind and those of the white trash world in which he lives.

DEN OF GEEK

The film's extreme tonal switches never feel forced, and the soundtrack turns up tempo rockabilly into funeral dirges, making a perfect match for the grainy yet beautiful images on display. Oh, and Edward Hogg is - pardon my French - intense as fuck throughout. I'll be very surprised if he doesn't come up as a serious contender for the festival's PPG Award for best performance.