Oz-Ploitation Volume 1 (incl. Turkey Shoot) & 2 (incl. Razorback/Umbrella Entertainment PAL Region Zero/0 DVD Sets)

 

 

PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Zero/0 PAL format software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review.

 

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras/Films:

 

 

Volume One

 

The Naked Bunyip (1970/1.33 X 1)  C+/C+

 

Night Of Fear (1972/1.85 X 1)/Inn Of The Damned (1974/1.85 X 1) C/C+/C

 

Adventures Of Barry McKenzie (1972/1.85 X 1)  C-/C-

 

Harlequin (1980/2.35 X 1)  C-/C-

 

Road Games (1981/2.35 X 1)  C/C

 

Turkey Shoot (1982/2.35 X 1)  C+/C+

 

 

Volume Two

 

Stone (1974/1.78, only here as a single disc) C-/B-

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6997/Stone+%E2%80%93+2-Disc+Special

Plus U.S. NTSC Set, which was almost as good looking as the PAL edition

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7812/Stone+(Severin+2-DVD+Set/NTSC

 

The True Story Of Eskimo Nell (1975/1.85 X 1)  C-/C-

 

Fantasm/Fantasm Comes Again (1976/1.33 X 1) C-/C-

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6636/John+Holmes+Exposed+(Umbrella+Ent

 

Long Weekend (1978/2.35 X 1)  C/C

 

The Chain Reaction (1980)  C+/C+

 

Razorback (1984/1.85 X 1)  C/C

 

 

 

Like any other major cinema, Australia has its share of B-movies and exploitation films.  Umbrella Entertainment has issued all kinds of films and after years of DVD releases, has collected some of the most interesting and unusual grindhouse product in two volumes they are calling Oz-Ploitation.  We have covered some of them, as the links above will verify.  As for the rest, some brief notes.

 

Volume One actually has seven films, including the would-be sex documentary The Naked Bunyip which is more watchable than some of its American counterparts, while Night Of Fear (with some warped sound) and Inn Of The Damned have been paired as a double feature disc.  Fear (also sporting the title Fright in the opening credits) has little dialogue, interesting editing montages and plays like a forerunner of Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with some suspense and holds up enough to embarrass the many Chain Saw imitators, even if it is only so good and has some logic flaws.  Wonder if Tobe Hooper saw this before he made his classic, but his one only runs 50 minutes.

 

Inn is a graphic period piece Western that makes for an interesting viewing, but nothing too memorable.  Rather unfunny was the comic-strip inspired Adventures Of Barry McKenzie, while Harlequin is a thriller by the un-thrilling director Simon Wincer that wants to not be supernatural at first, then is a bore when it becomes that way with zero suspense or character development.

 

Road Games is a bad variant of Spielberg’s Duel with slasher films on its mind enough to hire Jamie Lee Curtis, but it never works except as a curio with hardly any suspense and Turkey Shoot tires to be all the recent Science Fiction thrillers (Logan’s Run, Clonus, et al, with touches of 1984) it can be with mixed results.  The problem is, no matter the money issues, the film comes up with interesting ideas and never follows up on them, so it turns to more violence and plot over story to compensate with fascinating results.

 

Volume Two has the fine biker film Stone and would-be sex romps Fantasm and Fantasm Comes Again with the late John Holmes that we already covered, as well as the Russell Mulcahy killer pig thriller Razorback that hardly works, but that it even got made is amusing.  That leaves us looking at The True Story Of Eskimo Nell is a comic Outback Western about the exotic title character that is miles away from Robert Altman or Mel Brooks, never really taking off.

 

Long Weekend plays like a one-joke film as a careless couple who pollutes and takes nature for granted find themselves being attacked by nature itself.  It is a serious thriller that is ambitious, but cannot be serious enough when it is unintentionally funny and vice versa.  Still, it is interesting to watch for what it is and the actors are not bad.  The Chain Reaction (1980) has nothing to do with the goofy Keanu Reeves thriller (reviewed elsewhere on this site) but boasts George Miller (Mad Max) as its stunt director.  It is a China Syndrome-like tale where the government is trying to cover-up a nuclear accident that goes from thriller to action film with the advantage of doing the most with older technology.  It is also more mature than the Reeves film, though some of it is what we have been seeing in such films for years.  At least it has some energy to it along with fresh locations and an uncredited cameo by then-unknown Mel Gibson.

 

 

The various aspect ratios are noted above, with the widescreen releases anamorphically enhanced.  They all look good for their age, but show their age across the board as expected for such low-budget fare.  All are in color.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono in all cases also show their age, Razorback has a 5.1 Dolby mix that is not bad and is the best sound here.  It has a limited soundfield.

 

Extras include trailers for all titles, while Naked, Turkey, Roadgames, Chain and Nell have behind the scenes featurettes, Darryl adds a Dame Edna intro and DVD-ROM accessible script, Roadgames adds feature-length audio commentary, stills & storyboards, Harlequin, Fear & Inn also adds feature-length audio commentary, Inn has stills, Weekend also has stills and feature-length audio commentary, Razorback has audio interview with Gregory Harrison, feature-length audio commentary with Mulcahy, “grisly” deleted scenes, stills and trailers, Stone only has trailers (minus its bonus disc not included here), Fantasm has trailers, stills and feature-length audio commentary and Nell also adds stills trailers.

 

That’s not bad for a bunch of B-movies.

 

 

As noted above, you can order these PAL DVD import sets exclusively from Umbrella at:

 

http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo