Dalekboy

Definite yep on the overseas recognition -- and perhaps more to the point, Jackson's big hitters and the Raimi series were hugely American-backed productions, rather than primarily local ones... the Australian equivalent would be Star Wars ep2&3 and the Matrix trilogy, which no one really thinks of as Australian films. Full-fledged local productions, especially ones that are set locally, seem pretty scarce on both sides of the ditch!