Turkey Shoot

Umbrella Entertainment

R4 DVD

Turkey Shoot is the epitome of Ozploitation cinema, directed by infamous director Brian Trenchard-Smith, it is a totally over the top cult classic. It is generally seen as one of the first Australian films to attempt to tap into the success of the Mad Max films. With a strongly futuristic tone influenced by the post Apocalyptic science fiction of the period with lashings of the Most Dangerous Game (1932).

While these serious concepts may underlie the film and its portrayal of a totalitarian re-education camp has quite significant cinematic heritage, Turkey Shoot turns the whole genre into high camp with incredible over acting, extreme violence and political incorrectness.

It is 1995 and the way in which society deals with its non-conforming members is to send them to re-education camps. These work camps use a variety of methods, violent and otherwise, to break and reform their prisoners. A small group of new prisoners arrive for rehabilitation. Chris Walters, who had the misfortune to protest against the violence she saw by the police, Rita Daniels, who is accused of prostitution and Paul Landers, a radical who ran a pirate radio station.

The camp itself is run by a group of spoilt upper class debauchees who seem to take pleasure in the sadistic torture of the prisoners. Each year “Thatcher”, the camps warder, offers the ultimate form of sporting entertainment for visiting officials, a turkey shoot. Each of the guests have their own weapons of choice and they choose a prisoner to hunt. Four prisoners are told that if they can evade their pursers for 24 hours they will have their freedom, but nothing is quite as it seems as the truth is that the camp is on an Island and there is no escape !

Turkey Shoot was notorious at the time for its lashings of violence, rape, gore and brutality. It’s bizarre characters only added to the strange mix ranging from a stereotypical lesbian sexual predator in Carmen Duncan to a sideshow freak who is the special friend of visiting hunter Tito and prison guards who are stupid as they come. It has some truly extreme moments including when Alf, Tito’s offsider, breaks off and eats the toe of the prisoner they are hunting! It revels in excess and uses as much gratuitous sex and violence as it can pack into its approximate 90 minutes.

Turkey Shoot still polarizes its audience; David Stratton once described it as ‘a catalogue of sickening horrors’ while Quentin Tarantino continues to sing its praises. In 2008 it is considered one of the ultimate Ozploitation titles !

The edition from Umbrella is truly stunning, a 16 x 9 high quality print with some superb documentaries including "Blood and Thunder Memories" – memories form such Turkey Shoot survivors (!) actors as Michael Craig, Lynda Stoner and Roger Ward and "A Good Soldier" – a comprehensive interview with director Brian Trenchard-Smith.

Turkey Shoot is available as a single DVD and will also be released as part of the Umbrella Ozploitation Box Set series in October.