Les Traqués de l'an 2000

'Turkey Shoot' makes me proud to be an Aussie! There is something so gloriously stupid and cheesy about this movie that it utterly fascinates me!

Set in a future police state, the movie begins with three new prisoners being taken to a "rehabilitation" centre. They are Steve Railsback ('Helter Skelter', 'The Stunt Man'), Olivia Hussey (Zeffirelli's 'Romeo and Juliet'), and Lynda Stoner (err, 'Cop Shop'). The place, of course, is a seething hot bed of brutality, sexual frustration and yellow jump-suits. Pretty quickly we find out that our three newcomers are going to be hunted for sport by the Camp's leader, the enigmatic Thatcher, his sadistic colleagues, and a werewolf in a dune buggy.

I won't say any more as to not spoil your enjoyment of this long forgotten sci fi thriller. Australians will get more out of it than other viewers, as they will fully appreciate the supporting cast of soap stars, 70s TV personalities, and at least two 'Mad Max' actors. In fact, I cannot go without singling out the unknown, unsung hero of Australian cinema, Bill Young, who plays Griff here, and was also in another underrated Aussie trash classic 'Body Melt', AND 'The Matrix' AND 'Chopper'! If this guy has a fan club, sign me up!

'Turkey Shoot' - If you haven't seen this one you just don't know what you're missing!

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!

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Turkey Shoot is an Australian remake of the classic (And many many many times adapted) The Most Dangerous Game (1932) and in this guys estimation is not only the best adaptation but better than the original.

It twists the original tale by making it about a world where "Deviants" are sent to a glorified penal colony. To entertain the wealthy they are set off into the wilderness with a 3hr head start hunted down and killed.

Personally I liked this angle, not only did it work in theory but it worked in practice as well. Instead of playing the suspense and tension card like the others it becomes a full on action film and surprisingly (Considering I'm not an action guy) it very much works in the movies favor.

Turkey Shoot is a fantastic piece of Australian cinema and had it not been for a couple of unfortunate flaws could have been a true classic.

The Good:

Interesting twist on the classic tale

Very well paced

All round likeable movie

The Bad:

Looks and sounds very dated

Couple of spots fell flat

Set in a totalitarian future society, this film has a bleak but quite vividly drawn vision of the world...for its first 20 minutes or so; then it turns into a straight action-chase adventure. The uncut 90-minute version is extremely gory, but some of the effects are rather lame. Nevertheless, it's a fast-paced, trashily entertaining film, and the actors are adequate for the little they're asked to do. (**)

Known everywhere in the world except the U.S. as TURKEY SHOOT (there it was accorded the dumb aka of ESCAPE 2000) this is trash Oz film-making at its best! You gotta see this flick! A truck-load of 'anti-establishment' personnel are sent to this insane privately run "conditioning camp" set up and operated by a futuristic corporation for the amusement and dubious scientific study by its patrons. Railsback is quite obviously a non-conformist and gives the authorities what-for in no uncertain terms. He is marked for extermination.

Yet another derivative of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, the voyeuristic bad guys like nothing better than a "hunt" of escapees, re-hashed yet again in the 90's with Jean-Claude Van Dumb as HARD TARGET! You might even like to reflect on similarities (in concept ONLY) with THE RUNNING MAN. If then you like grotesque violence, lesbian advances, excessive torture, guys with a hard-on for girl prisoners, yellow jump suits and girls shot through the breast, this is the film for you.

Incredibly, it was an enormous hit JUST in London at the midnight show in a theater in Leicester Square during the summer of 1982. They were queueing round the block for the privilege of watching Lynda Stoner and Olivia Hussey try to make it through the night. Damned if I didn't queue as well!