Hostage

Hostage (1983)

** (out of 4)

This movie is based on the true events of Christine Maresch (Kerry Mack) who ended up marrying a man named Walter (Ralph Schicha) and turn her life into a living hell. Before you know it they have a child but Walter turns out to be a Nazi sympathizer and before long he is abusing Christine and taking her on a crime spree that she didn't want.

Before watching this film I had no idea about the true story behind it. Apparently it was very big new in Australia and it managed to produce a best-selling book as well as this movie, which goes under several titles including SAVAGE ATTRACTION. I must admit that the movie really let me down for a number of reasons but the biggest is the fact that you really never learned too much about either of the characters.

I'm going to guess that the filmmakers felt most people would be familiar with the tale so they'd just show off the highlights of the couple's life together as well as the various violent ones. The entire film pretty much as Christine playing a victim to Walter who will either beat her, force her into robberies or threaten harm to their child. There's no question that this here is rather ugly story but I didn't think either character was fully developed and as the movie went on I had more questions than anything else.

I thought both Mack and Schicha were good in their roles. Again, I thought the characters were as simple as a victim and a bully but both actors did a fine job. The screenplay felt like something you'd see on American television but I think the lackluster direction is what really killed the film. I say this because there's never any tension to anything you're watching and the deadly slow pace just really drags the film out and makes it feel much longer than it actually is.

While working at an amusement park in Australia, Christine starts a relationship with a German man, Walter. She marries him and has a child with him. When an job opportunity presents itself, Walter and Christine move to Germany. There his deepest, darkest secret is revealed: he's a fervent neo-Nazi. Appalled by this revelation, Christine's life, and that of her child, are now in danger.

Based on a true story but you wouldn't think so. Yes, the story is quite extreme but not implausible. No, it's more the way the story is told that makes it less than believable. There's a B-grade quality to proceedings that make it seem cheap and cheesy.

Direction is pretty unimaginative and performances are quite hammy. Ralph Schicha as Walter is the worst of it: absurd overacting. Kerry Mack's performance as Christine is actually semi-decent. Supporting cast are so-so.

With a bit more edginess, tension and engagement this could have been a fairly decent film. Instead it's quite flat, even dull despite the storyline.

True story of a horrific case of Stockholm Syndrome tropes in late 1970s Australia which sees a young Australian lady meet and falling in love with a German with some secret political views that come out as the film develops.

The film seems to get unfair criticism in some quarters. True, it's your typical low budget Australian Ozploitation film but it has a true story, horrific but interesting never the less.

I liked the location photography although Broken Hill standing in for Turkey is an eye opener!

It kept me engrossed throughout and deserves it's place amongst the best of 1980s Australian cinema offerings.

Umbrella Entertainment is bringing back Frank Shields' (The Breaker) '80s cult classic 'Hostage'. Not only is this version restored so it can be viewed in glorious 4K, this is also a slightly longer director's cut of the film, based on the incredible, yet terrifying true story of Christine Maresch (Kerry Mack - The Lancaster Miller Affair).

Christine, a naive 16-year-old working at a carnival, meets the handsome German immigrant Walter Maresch (Ralph Schicha - Sturm der Liebe) and under weird circumstances feels forced to marry him, before she discovers he's a psychotic neo-Nazi, who'll stop at nothing to manipulate and control every move she makes, for the rest of her life. Now living in West-Germany, Walter gets to be closer to his circle of Nazi sympathizers, and Christine finds herself in a whirlwind filled with domestic violence, drugs and armed robbery. It's now up to Christine to save herself and her child, and safely get back to Australia.

Hostage couldn't be more of a B-film. Fans of the genre will appreciate this melodramatic "Ozploitation", which is based on true events - only slightly exaggerated. Lots of action, crazy fast editing and a score by Davood A. Tabrizi that probably went down in '80s Australian film history as one of its finest. The twists and turns get a bit repetitive at some point, especially when it becomes annoyingly clear Christine misses every opportunity she gets to escape her abusive husband.

Luckily Kerry Mack knows how to sell the part, even if it may be a bit silly and over-the-top at times. The styling, make up and hair are always on point, even after she wakes up from a drug induced fever dream in which we see her tossing and turning up against the walls of some sort of dollhouse inside her head - Dario Argento would've been proud. Schicha on the other hand, overdoes it as soon as he gets confident in the role of neo-Nazi. He's mostly here to shout, punch or grab Mack, while keeping it all very on the surface.

Sensational, suspenseful and overly violent, 'Hostage: The Story of Christine Maresch' ticks all the boxes of exploitation cinema which some cinephiles will definitely enjoy in their collection. Never dull, fast-paced and taking place on multiple continents, the sky is the limit with an explosive finale that'll either make you cringe or clap your hands.

Sadly, or tragically this was a real life tale, that paints a horrifying picture of what a young girl, endured when meeting a seemingly polite and handsome carnival worker, Walter Maresch (Ralph Schicha). He turns out to be an all Hitler brainwashed psychopath, and at the end while being a disturbed witness, and feeling so much sympathy for the poor suffering real life victim, played very well by hottie Kerry Mack, the actress much better looking than the real Christine (they always are) in it's 92 minute duration. Like her, we really feel like we've been put through the ringer. Hostage is a very tightly written real life tale. From it's opening, where Christine is being belted supposedly by her stepfather, she takes to the road, and that's where, the opening of her soon to endure begins. I found Schicha, a little stiff in his performance, but he is quite threatening and has his moments. We see where the forced marriage led to, then her pregnancy, then the entrapment over in Germany. The movie doesn't hold back on shock, including some pretty bloody moments, and you can call it's exploitation, but this is marvelously entertaining and important film, where the story really honed in on what this poor lass endured, a lot of physical beating, while also, near the end, getting speared in the back. It's a tightly told tale, and that's what I loved about this. The movie uses all the important parts of this real life horror, and we get through a lot in those 92 minutes. It's a very cut to the chase movie, but of course the real horror, is it's a factual told hell. Obviously an underrated movie too. Judy Nunn aka: Home and Away's Isla, is fantastic, a real hoot Christine's Mum, where you savor her scenes. Unmissable, the real hostage, will be you, the viewer when you watch this.