turkey shoot

For cult movie fans, Mark Harley’s 2008 documentary, Not Quite Hollywood, was like a can’t-miss playlist of new favorites they didn’t even know existed. Ripping through the history of the Australian exploitation genre of the ‘70s and ‘80s with excitement and affection, the only bummer was most of the films featured were still unavailable on home video. But each year more Ozploitation finds its way on Blu-ray and DVD, the latest being the infamous Turkey Shoot (1982), a hot mess of a sci-fi prison movie that features inmates being hunted for the sport of the corrupt political elite.

Nonsensical and comically violent, director Brian Trenchard-Smith’s (Dead End Drive-In) film was stripped of a large portion of its budget and fifteen pages of script only two weeks before filming was to begin. What remains is an anything-goes montage of beatings, explosions, dismemberments and toe-eating monsters. It’s not the sort of film one defends as high art. But its commitment to delivering the goods at all costs makes it an essential part of Aussie exploitation history.

A trio of “social deviants” (played by Steve Railsback, Olivia Hussey and Lynda Stoner) are the latest arrivals at the isolated internment camp run by the coolly sadistic warden, Charles Thatcher (Michael Craig), who handpicks them as prey for his visiting guests. The rules are simple: survive and you go free. But each hunter is armed with their weapon of choice – including explosive-tipped arrows and a deadly all-terrain vehicle - so survival is a long shot at best.

Turkey Shoot feels much more sleazy than it actually is. Viewed from a 30 years-plus perspective, the violence and flashes of nudity are pretty common – and cartoonish – exploitation elements, particularly the addition of a hairy circus freak that serves as a de facto bloodhound. It’s likely the film’s lack of back story and sympathetic characters (cut from the script before production began) that makes it feel like an exercise in glorified sadism; specifically, actress Olivia Hussey’s constant expression of mental anguish that doesn’t appear to be a performance…which by all accounts was exactly the case.

Lead Steve Railsback just seems horribly miscast as the strong-willed revolutionary (and his method acting techniques weren’t much of a hit on the set either). It’s secondary actors, like Roger Ward (Mad Max) and the aforementioned Michael Craig, who accept the material for what it is and give their villainous characters some extra “oomph.” Turkey Shoot isn’t aiming high. But like most of Trenchard-Smith’s early work (the director is a personal fave of Quentin Tarantino), it keeps your eyes glued to the screen…even if you can’t quite believe what you’re seeing.

Severin Films’ new Blu-ray presentation (the film was released as Escape 2000 on DVD over a decade ago) features an astonishing amount of extras to pair up with a super-clean hi-def transfer. The Ozploitation Renaissance gathers Trenchard-Smith and others to discuss the rise of Aussie exploitation from erotic comedies to the success of Mad Max 2. Things get more specific on Turkey Shoot: Blood & Thunder Memories, which includes select cast members reflecting quite honestly on their opinion of the film and the hellish shooting experience. Trenchard-Smith tells his own story in an accompanying interview and audio commentary track. But the whopper of them all has to be the nearly 1-½ hours of extended interviews from Not Quite Hollywood that really fills in the gaps. The theatrical trailer and alternate title sequence (under the Escape 2000 header) wrap up this essential special edition.