Turkey Shoot

Groan.
Uggh.
Pfft!
The collected noises of my living room as my sleepless partner and I decided to watch this ’80s schlockfest. It started out so promisingly, leading us in with mystery and confusion, but unfortunately didn’t allay these mysteries or confusions.

See, the story follows three people who wake up in a van headed somewhere. We see it’s to a correctional facility and soon the new inmates learn that this is The State and they are in deep do-do. Under the ruthless warden Thatcher they soon learn that any uprising, feeble as it may be, is met with harsh brutality. Hell, even just going about your business gets some harsh brutality. Throw in some gratuitous nudity to spice things up a little as we adjust to prison life and then we enter the story proper.

"Open season!"

This involves a bunch of snooty upper class elite who decide to hunt the trickiest prey of all, incarcerated political prisoners. And so, naturally the same three from the van are chosen (saving on hiring more leads) and two of them even manage a quick and hasty attempt at falling in love. So, with the promise of freedom if they survive until nightfall, they head off into the wilds of the jungle to make their bid for freedom. What follows is basically a hunt-em-down-even-as-they-fight-back plot that disintegrates from almost managing to have substance to a bloody miasma of shattered bodies and bloodletting.

However, all that having been said, it is still bloody funny. We were in stitches as the film became farce (well... moreso) in a matter of moments. When listening to the director explain himself in the extras, you can feel his pain as the producers changed the plans, hacked the budget and cut production to the bone, leaving him holding the baby. Being honourable, he did what he could with the film while taking the investors’ money very seriously, (which I thought really showed his integrity), regardless of the disaster this film became. He even admits this movie was very bad in a career sense, but unfortunately the producers called the shots and he was trapped.

Anyway, this is a hopeless bit of fun shot in North Queensland, with some over the top splatter, some nudity just for fun and some seriously misplaced acting abilities - there are actually some halfway decent performances from the cast. This again attests to the skillful direction of Brian Trenchard-Smith, doing the best he could with a very bad situation. I won’t go into that further, as the full story appears in the extras, but it is a tragedy, particularly when we find out what plans were originally laid down for the film with its extensive budget.

Coming from the awesome might of the Madman authoring team, this film looks better than it ever possibly could have. Among the extras is uncleaned and untreated footage from the video stock and it’s simply appalling. Lovingly restored then, this film is seen in its original theatrical aspect of 2.35:1, with 16:9 enhancement bringing every exploding head and every amputated limb to the screen in graphic clarity. The colours do tend to look a tad washed out in that ’70s/’80s way, with the colour palette being mostly earthy, but you get that.

Flesh tones are okay, thankfully, as we see enough of it throughout, but the picture is a little too good sometimes and brings the cheesy makeup effects to us a little too clearly. Oh well, it all becomes part of the fun. There are very few artefacts throughout, and compared to the trailer there are none. Being shot in daylight for the most part shadows are practically non-existent, but those that appear are okay if a little deep. Blacks, on that note, are true to life.

Dolby Digital stereo comin’ atcha! This has been cleaned up well with plenty of grunts and growls and nonsensical noises that all sound clear enough. Some of the sound effects are all too stock, I’m afraid, but they again contribute to the fun of the Turkey Shoot. I knew they’d find a way to get ‘bullet whining off rock’ into it, but was blown away when they also managed ‘tyre screech on dirt road’! (There are also some classic visual clichés as well, including ‘snake coming through skull eye socket’ but the rest are for you to find).

Dialogue gets a little grainy at times with some harder to understand statements, but these are usually from gravel voiced Gus Mercurio. There can be little doubt the sound has been restored as well here, and again it’s a fairly good job. Music is deliciously classic retro ’80s all the way too. The synthesizer was all new back then and obviously very fashionable, because it shows up to lend its futuristic feel to this film set in 1995.

That was a rather futuristic year, from memory.

It’s not often we get a Madman DVD without extras, and this one is no exception. Two recently made featurettes in 1.78:1 with 16:9 enhancement are included here. The first is Blood and Thunder Memories and is absolutely priceless. Recent interviews with Michael Craig, Lynda Stoner and Roger Ward are conducted with such diplomacy, they become elevated to hilarious. Lynda Stoner is the absolute highlight of this one, with some of her statements about the film unbelievable, particularly as all we usually see are interviews full of praise for a production. And I quote: "...a putrid, puerile bunch of crap!" There’s a lot more like that, plus some genuinely interesting reflections and anecdotes.

Our second featurette is a recent interview with director Brian Trenchard-Smith entitled A Good Soldier (because he did what his bosses told him to do, regardless of the consequences). This is a great interview, detailing his enclosed position regarding the producers and how he was left little alternative when they cut key scenes that would have made the film much better. Some of the footage of the film here is in 4:3 pan and scan and gives us an idea of how it looked on video, which does contribute to the DVD version looking a lot better! This bit runs for 9:48 whilst Blood and Thunder clocks in at 23:45.

The trailer jets in lastly for 2:41 and is presented in 1.85:1 (sans enhancement). This is unrestored, as mentioned above, and looks like shit. There are artefacts on safari everywhere and the colour palette seems relegated to pinks and oranges only. A shocker.

Finally, the obligatory Madman Propaganda in the form of four trailers. These are for other classic films of the era and include: Puberty Blues, Barry McKenzie Holds His Own, Rock’n’Roll High School and Kentucky Fried Movie. (My highlight here was definitely The Ramones in Rock’n’Roll. How could it not be?)

A happy little bunch of stuff that will provide some good laughs and shows that memories in showbiz do go back a loooong way.

This film is a groaner until you decide to treat it with the subtle tongue in cheek it demands. Then all becomes clear and we can settle back and enjoy just how bad an exploitation film can get. You know how sometimes something is so bad it’s good again? (I give you Plan 9 From Outer Space by Hollywood darling, Ed Wood).

Expect the worst, get your creepy geeky mates around with some beers and laugh your arses off watching classic Aussie schlock. There’s a wealth of cool rewindable frame-by-frame bits where we get to see everything from exploding torsos to nudies to aurally connecting punches that miss by a mile. Bad filthy fun.