Long Weekend

Brilliant film, eerie and atmospheric. Stays on your mind for a long time after watching. One of my favourites. The part where the sea creature wails like a baby is especially good. The image of the eagle egg being smashed against the tree kept coming back and haunting me long after the film had finished. A lot of weird happenings in the film - what happened to the people in the other camper van? You never actually got to see them, just their vicious little dog! This is a film I could happily watch over and over without getting fed up. I would love to be able to get this video either on video or DVD but it seems it's been withdrawn. Can anyone help me get a hold of this video or DVD? I would be grateful to hear from anyone else who likes this movie too.

Peter and Marcia (John Hargreaves and Briony Behets) are having marital problems. In fact, their marriage is almost over. Peter drags Marcia on a trip to the -very isolated- Aussie seashore. Along the way, the couple spend most of their time fighting -they have a secret- and abusing nature in the same callous way that they treat each other. Slowly, very subtly, nature reacts.

Peter and Marcia are so busy hurting and blaming each other, that they hardly notice the growing menace around them. Like a tightening slipknot, the creatures close in.

LONG WEEKEND has a building atmosphere of approaching, encroaching doom, like the changes in the air before a bad storm. It's not your typical "nature's revenge" film. In this movie, the danger grows in proportion to what we learn about Peter and Marcia's history and true character. Highly recommended...

A bickering couple decide to spend a long weekend at a secluded beach. Once there, the disrespect they show for their surroundings leads to nature taking it's revenge on them.

This is the epitome of Australian horror. Not only is it the best horror film to come from down under, but it's one of the best horror films, period. I first discovered this film back in the late 90's and was quite blown away by it. I love the nature strikes back sub-genre, but never had I found such films to be legitimately frightening. "Long Weekend", however, really got to me. I'm happy to say that it's still just as effective to this day.

The mood, the haunting score, the atmosphere of the beach and the overall sense of nature conspiring against the characters all makes for a remarkable amount of tension. I love this film for many of the same reasons that I love "The Blair Witch Project", though there are many differences between the two as well. What's more, the animals attacks never come off as fake. A scene where an eagle comes in search of it's egg is raw and eerie. There are no fake birds on wires or men in bear suits to be found here. Our two leads aren't very likable, but that doesn't keep the film from being an unsettling experience. You have to love the ending too, which brings things full circle.

A masterpiece of mood and tension, "Long Weekend" stands the test of time.

I saw this for the first time recently. It is about a bickering couple who goes for a weekend picnic to an isolated place near a beach. From the beginning, the couple has no regards for mother nature. I found the film slow but creepy at times but as a whole, i didn't enjoy this film.

'Long Weekend' is a textbook definition of a forgotten classic. It's a horror/thriller without many of the traditional horror elements. It'll give you a sense of dread and wonder, and stick in your memory forever more. The only reason it dwells in obscurity is because it was a low-budget film made in Australia in 1978, whereas if it were some feeble US B-grade schlock, it would be in every rental store and listed in Netflix. Fortunately, it has at last made it to DVD. When you get yourself a copy, you'll see a truly claustrophobic two-hander that uses the wilds of the Australian bush and a lonely-looking coastline to spectacular effect.

At no point does the shoestring budget hamper the storytelling even when it occasionally becomes apparent. A well-crafted script that only lets the plot out in bite-size pieces across the duration ensures you're too busy wondering just what is going on between the film's two characters, and the bizarre situation they find themselves in. John Hargreaves and Briony Behets play Peter and Marcia, a married couple who are clearly a gnat's wing away from divorce, for reasons not immediately given. The tension between them is as thick as the strange and chilling atmosphere of the lonely beach Peter takes them to in a last-ditch attempt to recover what they've lost. Something there seems determined to destroy not only their chances of reconciliation, but also prevent them from ever leaving. What is the horrible wailing they keep hearing? Will what happened to the people who stayed there before them happen to them as well? Did they bring it upon themselves?

The excellent natural locations, coupled with some excellent camera work and the odd well-placed sound effect prove no dazzling visual wizardry is needed to make a scary film. Naturally, you also need conviction from your performers, which Hargreaves and Behets give most convincingly. Together, these elements ensure that no more than two characters are needed to provide a provoking character drama and an uneasy thriller - the two levels juxtaposing in ways that tellingly feed off each other, surely making 'Long Weekend' the memorable experience it is for those fortunate enough to have seen it. I was a little disappointed at one element of predictability near the end - one part of the climax I could see coming a mile off. Maybe that was just me. Nonetheless this should not deter you from pursuing 'Long Weekend' - a study in humanity, and a telling point in horror film-making.