Linkshoch Wonderful Movie
Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.
Mjeteconer Just perfect...
Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
ShellyM I first saw this movie over thirty years ago, and if not for the frightening subject matter would have passed for a very black comedy. The film is set sometime in a dystopian future, where 'deviants', those who oppose the New World Order Government are sent to concentration camps. Camp 47, is such a camp in this movie and is ran by a cold blooded sociopath named Thatcher (who undoubtedly would have been tried for war crimes in other circumstances), and his equally cold blooded guests.For the first half of Turkey Shoot, our hapless trio of Steve, Lynda and Olivia (who apparently was really miserable during filming) are subjected to all sorts of tribulations, including witnessing two horrific executions, attempted rape and Steve Railsback's character, Paul Anders is placed into a cage where his musculoskeletal system is put under an enormous strain.This film is violent, it is gory, and yes, some F Bombs are dropped. Not for the faint hearted. Some characters are more sympathetic than others, particularly Rita (Lynda Stoner), Chris (Olivia Hussey and Paul (Steve Railsback) Bill Young's character Griff deserves an honorable mention here as well. Given today's climate, however, Turkey Shoot is a cautionary tale about how the world could end up like this and camps such as Camp 47 could exist.
tomgillespie2002 Directed by Anglo Australian filmmaker Brian Tenchard-Smith (most notably known for the Australian film that introduced Nicole Kidman to the world, BMX bandits, a kid/family movie, mainly remembered for the zeitgeist trend of the bicycle craze in the title), this post-Mad Max dystopian future movie tells the 'story' of a camp for retraining the 'deviates' of society, so that they may conform to the institutionalised norm as a whole. It begins with three people being taken in the back of a van to the camp of 'Re-Education and behaviour modification'. The camp looks much like the Nazi concentration camps of such films as SS Experiment Camp, or Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS. The film begins as all of the usual 'nazisploitation' movies do, with a pinch of titillation and humiliation. This is not however a nazisploitation movie, as it appears to have a more communist edge; as the motto goes (in a quite comical sequence where 'chief' guard Rimmer picks out the smallest woman, and mock-punches to her face, whilst forcing her to recite it), "I am a deviate, lowest form on earth..."The main 'heroes' of the piece, are Paul (Steve Railsback), and Chris (Olivia Hussey - also known for such genre films as It, and Black Christmas). These also constitute the ubiquitous love interest within the plot. Whilst the inhabitants of the camp are humiliated and ritually abused in almost gladiatorial fashions, the main plot stems from the concept highlighted by the films title (although this was altered both for the UK video market - Camp Blood Thatcher; and the US market, Escape 2000), where there are five prisoners who are set 'free' from the camp so that seemingly elite persons from society can game hunt them with no consequences. All this leads to utterly predictable outcomes, resulting in an attempted overthrown of the 'authorities'!The film exploits the concept of game hunting with elements of gore (again ubiquitous of the times of production), but doesn't really explore the societal elements that the protagonists are trying to subvert. We know nothing of the 'societies' structural elements that may instigate any kind of revolution or revolt. What exactly are the protagonists subverting? What are the policies, or dogmas of this 'society'? We only see the camp, and are not given any knowledge of the non-diagetic world beyond this.The rich hunt the imprisoned. That is about as political as this movie gets. OK, so all movies don't necessarily need to have a message, granted. But if you are going to make a film set in a dystopian future, the world needs to be constructed so that we may understand why this future exists. To add insult to injury - despite the finale having a touch of gore - it almost seems like an episode of The A-Team, only people actually get shot. I almost forgot to say; a certain 'thing' accompanies one of the rich on the game hunt that he "found in a freakshow", which is essentially a badly dressed wolf-man. It's as if someone turned up on set in the wrong costume, and the director thought "well, we'll make it work!"If you love bad filmmaking, with no social commentary, and no element of surprise or suspense, then you may well love this. But, it is, and will always be a bore!www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com
SmokeyTee This may have been a 20 minute short. But they stretched this farce to feature length. Every scene groans along at a snails pace, action sequences feature gunfire after gunfire, crossbow shot after cross bow shot, MISS MISS MISS for the later half of the movie. This could have been a hoot but it was a dull premise and the characters were all rubbish. Obviously they had a cast of extras available for one days shooting the rest of the time the film is filled with about 7 people all of them not terribly clever walking through various parts of Australia's bush and magically managing to track each other. There's the usually late 70s - early 80s Orwellian plot about big brother ruling everything and no freedom. Yawn. We watched the whole thing because this was in fact one of those rare movies you can't stop watching because it is so unbelievably bad. You want to see what more bad, bad cinema will come with each scene. Save your money or enjoy a really, really awful movie. This dog won't hunt.
BA_Harrison According to the quotes on my Turkey Shoot DVD insert (the uncut, widescreen UK release by HardGore), "...the bloody action is almost non-stop..." and the film contains "...the most head explosions since 'Scanners'...". Although neither of these are particularly accurate descriptionsthe bulk of the gore is reserved for the latter half of the film and there is only one head explosionit is still an enjoyably silly and violent exploit flick that is well worth checking out.In Aussie director Brian Trenchard-Smith's Orwellian vision of the near-future, years of social disturbance and moral decay have led to the rise of an über-fascistic government that no longer welcomes free speech, and clamps down hard on those who deviate from the rules: anyone who threatens to upset the status-quo is shipped to a correctional facility for 'reprogramming'.The toughest of all of these camps is led by a nasty, power-hungry sadist named Thatcher (Michael Craig), who controls his prisoners through the use of fear and violence. Any infraction of the camp's rules is dealt with most severely, with punishments ranging from a simple beating (or rape, if you happen to be a pretty lady) by the camp's bully-boy guards, to a hideously painful public execution.When the camp's three newest arrivals Chris, Rita and Paul (Olivia Hussey, Lynda Stoner, and Steve Railsback) are offered a slim chance of freedom, by becoming the prey in a man-hunt organised to satisfy the blood-lust of several influential guests, they reluctantly accept, reasoning that they stand more chance of survival taking part in Thatcher's hunt than if they remain in the camp. Along with two veteran inmates, they are released, only to be pursued several hours later by the hunting party: Thatcher (armed with a high-powered rifle), a cross-bow wielding lesbian, a slimy overweight politician led by two of Thatcher's henchmen, and a maniac in a bulldozer who uses a hairy circus freak to trap and kill his prey (pretty cool, huh?).Of course, it comes as no surprise which inmates are bagged, and which survive, but with so much cheesy gore on display, who cares if the outcome is a mite predictable? Viewers are treated to a machete in the head, dissection by 'dozer blade, a jungle style booby-trap impalement, removal of hands by machete, a couple of bloody arrow attacks, ONE (yes, one) head explosion, and the complete obliteration of an upper torso by machine-gun fire. Add an explosive B-movie finalé and an atmospheric synth score by Mad Max composer Brian May, and you've got one heck of a fun film!
