The new film from Australian directing pair Salvatore Samperi and Mathew John Pearson, Unseen Enemy, is an all-out action thriller featuring organised crime syndicates, the Japanese Yakuza, Tae Kwon Do, Silat, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kickboxing, Judo, a missing girl, a private investigator who can’t return home to his family, and even a mullet-wearing bogan pimp. 

In short, it packs a serious punch (and many punches).

The project grew out of the directors’ shared love of classic action cinema.

“I grew up loving ’80s and ’90s martial arts and action movies and wanted to explore whether there was a way to modernise some of the cool themes used 30-40 years ago,” Samperi said.

“Blending old-school fight styles and classic antagonists - like the Yakuza - with modern choreography was an absolute blast.”

Samperi not only co-directed the film with Pearson and wrote the film but also stars in the lead role. He says this shared love of action films made the co-directing process surprisingly seamless.

“It’s funny, because we’re a similar age and grew up watching the exact same movies - even though we lived in different countries. When it came to creative decisions, it was like we spoke the same ‘action language’ and went to the same ‘action school’. We were naturally very in sync, and each decision was understood immediately between us,” he said.

Samperi plays compromised private investigator Levi Meli, who is pulled out of hiding to search for a missing girl. The film hints at a traumatic past encounter with Yakuza gangsters that forced Levi to abandon his family. 

As the investigation deepens, he finds himself battling not only the crime group behind the girl’s disappearance but also the ghosts - and enemies - he tried to leave behind.

Unseen Enemy was filmed across Sydney, from the western suburbs to the Hawkesbury River, from underground crime dens to high-rise hotels. Samperi says he couldn’t imagine setting it anywhere else.

“When writing Unseen Enemy, I imagined myself living inside that world, and a lot of that world was in my own backyard and places I love. Sydney and its surrounds have countless amazing filming locations, so we picked places that fit the mood of the scene or matched the characters’ intentions,” he said.

The film captures Sydney not just through location, but through culture.

“To make this a Sydney-based action film, we needed to be true to the city’s culture and represent what Sydney stands for. I think we got the mix pretty close, and I’m really happy with the diversity of Sydney-based talent we brought into the project,” Samperi said.

Of course, the highlight of any action film is the action - and here, the film truly commits. With actors performing their own stunts and drawing on their real martial arts backgrounds, the fight scenes carry an intensity that feels both raw and nostalgic.

“All our actors and performers had legit martial arts backgrounds - they weren’t just actors trained for a role.

First, we looked at each performer’s strengths, then structured the ‘story’ of the fight around that and worked out how we wanted the audience to feel. After that, it’s practice, practice, practice,” Samperi said.

The poster for Unseen Enemy. Photo: Vision Films

Pearson agrees. “Multiple people have told me how intense the fight scenes are. I think it feels more visceral when performers take real hits and put their bodies on the line.

The camera captures that, and the audience feels it. That said, we always work within boundaries to avoid real injuries,” he said.

With its mix of martial arts styles, cultural influences, street-level grit and high-rise gloss, Unseen Enemy constantly pairs opposites - old and new, real and heightened, disciplined and chaotic. 

These contrasts create a film that feels messy in the best possible way: energetic, eclectic, and unapologetically fun.

Unseen Enemy is an exciting example of low-budget Australian filmmaking driven by passion, resourcefulness, and a genuine love for the genre - and it shows on screen.

The film will premiere at Ritz Cinemas in Randwick on Wednesday 26 November with a post-screening Q&A with the directors, before officially releasing on 30 November.