Turkey Shoot (1983)

"Turkey Shoot" is the most boring prison movie I've ever seen.It's much vaunted graphic violence looks cheap as hell and doesn't follow any law of continuity. Plus, you have to sit through almost an hour of boring movie before you even get to see any.The movie is supposedly set in the future but there is nothing futuristic about it. We only dimly recognise this through the basic set up of people being sent away for minor crimes for "behaviour modification". This is enough of a cliché of dystopian sci fi that they only had to mention it and everyone will assume it's set in the future - no need for fancy sets or costumes or anything that looks in any way "futuristic".There is also the baffling inclusion of some kind of monster-like thing; basically a guy built like a wrestler with glowing red contact lenses. I guess the inclusion of such a creature is also explained by the movie being "set in the future", so don't ask any questions, okay? You'll be too busy scratching your head at its laughably bad death scene: the blade of an earth mover pins the creature to a tree at the back of the knees, then, cut to... the upper half of the creature, severed at the waist, falling onto the ground. How did it get cut at the WAIST, when we just saw the shovel blade pin it at the back of the knee? Did the filmmakers expect us not to notice that?The violence is all so badly done that it's impossible to respond to it with anything other than amusement at the awful special effects. The reason why people go on about the violence in this one, is, it seems, because there is absolutely nothing else in the movie of note or of interest.

"Excess is what makes life worth living." That seems to have been the motto for the people behind this wild and crazy Ozploitation action flick. In a world of a not-too-distant future, the government seeks to keep everybody in line, forbidding people to say anything against them. Among those picked up is Paul Anders (Steve Railsback), who tries to reach others over the radio. Even completely innocent citizens like Chris Walters (Olivia Hussey) *will* get snatched if they so much as defend a person being beaten. They're all taken to "re-education" camps like the one we see in this movie.Five of the prisoners get picked out for participating in a "turkey shoot", wherein they will be stalked by the camp master (Michael Craig) and his cronies. If they can survive for a certain amount of time, they will supposedly earn their freedom.Director Brian Trenchard-Smith has said that he liked to sometimes explore serious ideas in wacky ways. And so it is with this umpteenth variation on "The Most Dangerous Game", in which political subtext mixes with pure, straightforward entertainment. And what entertainment it is. It's thoroughly trashy, extremely fast paced, and genuinely exciting. The heroic characters tend to get overshadowed by the effectively loathsome villains. Craig (whose character is not named Thatcher for nothing), Roger Ward as swaggering head guard Ritter, Noel Ferrier as Secretary Mallory, Michael Petrovitch as slimy Tito, and sultry Carmen Duncan as the depraved Jennifer all register strongly.Adding to the fun factor is the presence of a "circus freak" character named Alph. Played by Steve Rackman, he looks like a reject from an "Island of Dr. Moreau" movie, and tears off peoples' toes and eats them. The fact that he's here is no better way to say, "Look, this is one of *those* movies. Deal with it."The violence is so wonderfully potent that folks are doing themselves a disservice if they see the heavily cut American release titled "Escape 2000". Do yourselves a favour and see the original 94 minute Australian feature under the "Turkey Shoot" title. That way, you see all the delicious over the top splatter in all its glory.Supremely diverting for aficionados of trash from Down Under.Eight out of 10.

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

It is no coincidence that "Turkey Shoot" a.k.a. "Escape 2000" has a prison camp warden named Thatcher. For whatever reason the film played big in Margaret Thatcher's England. A nice assortment of women and men political prisoners are brainwashed and routinely tortured in Prison Camp 97. Although apparently an attempt was made to market this as "black comedy", it is really some sort of hybrid women in prison, hunted in the jungle combination. It has the required nude shower scene, along with lots of meaningless shooting and explosions. The actual turkey shoot pits armed evil types against unarmed resourceful prisoners. Although the whole thing makes little sense, there is plenty of over the top action, and for some unknown reason "Turkey Shoot" is strangely entertaining. - MERK