Turkey Shoot (1982)

"Freedom is obedience; obedience is work; work is life." Before Dead End Drive-In, Brian Trenchard-Smith gave us Turkey Shoot, a deliciously violent Australian cult film. It has a plot very similar to The Most Dangerous Game, but with a few twists and a heavy Orwellian feel.

The opening credits, stock footage of rioting and attacks, alludes to the film taking place in a near future- a very near future, given that nothing is very "futuristic". Society is under the control of a totalitarian government, and anything less than total conformity in this dystopian state is punishable by imprisonment and reprogramming in a work camp.

I've always been a big fan of dystopian stories; it's interesting that we seem to fear these futures so much, yet we as a society try so hard to march toward them. Maybe that is why they are so scary: they seem to be inevitable. We tell ourselves technology is all for the greater good, that we are happy our phones, watches, etc. track our every move. So many get their news from memes on Facebook, and believe everything they see on the Internet; we seem willing to give up our privacy and freedom for the sake of a cute photo filter or free Pepsi sweepstakes. If a dystopia isn't our future, it is because we are already living in one.

Anyway, I digress. Early on in Turkey Shoot, we learn there is of course a resistance movement, of which Paul Anders (Steve Railsback, Helter Skelter) is a major figure. In arresting him, the police drag poor shopkeeper Chris Walters (Olivia Hussey, Black Christmas and It) in as well, for sympathizing with the accused. The two are then shipped off to Prison Camp 97, along with a blonde suspected prostitute, Rita Daniels. We learn that the camp is run by the militant Charles Thatcher (Michael Craig), who makes very clear he intends to break Paul Anders for his history of escapes from other camps.

The three new prisoners quickly get a taste of what the prison is really like. The film is delightfully heavy on the 1970s-80s exploitation and extreme violence, with the naive Chris almost getting raped by a guard immediately after getting dumped off at the camp. Anders comes to her rescue (women all need a man to take care of them...), earning himself some torture. The main muscle at camp is Chief Guard Ritter (the imposing Roger Ward, Mad Max), who proceeds to beat a young female prisoner to death in spectacular fashion as a warning to the rest of the wards. And no prison movie would be complete without the requisite nude shower scene, on which Turkey Shoot delivers.

Akin to The Most Dangerous Game, Thatcher offers a deal to four of the inmates (the newest three, and a long-time member of the camp by the name of Dodge), one which they cannot refuse: they are to participate as the targets in a hunt for Thatcher's guests. If they survive the absurd chase in the surrounding jungle until sundown, they will win their freedom. Thrown in as a bonus for Thatcher, is another prisoner by the name of Griff (Bill Young), whom he intends to simply execute.

We are introduced to the rest of the hunters: Secretary Mallory (Noel Ferrier), Jennifer (Carmen Duncan), and Tito (Michael Petrovich). It is suggested that Jennifer and Thatcher have a history, and Tito comes off as ridiculously decadent in a Freddy Mercury way. Their mannerisms are very bourgeois, and the massive quantity of native artifacts, etc. in the main house give off a very colonial vibe (think 1900s British colonization of Africa). Tito promises to do something excessive for the hunt, and he doesn't disappoint: his "weapon" is a werewolf-freak he picked up in the circus by the name of "Alph" (Stevie "Crusher" Rackman, a well-known Australian wrestler and "Donk" in Crocodiile Dundee).

The film takes off from here in rather intense fashion, with the hunters pursuing our yellow-jumpsuited prisoner friends in various extreme vehicles (and a horse for Jennifer, the marksman/lesbian bow-huntress). Over-the-top explosions and gunfire ensue: the werewolf gobbles a toe, one victim is agonizingly shot with arrows before being crushed under an ATV, and the poor werewolf is eventually bisected by the tractor/dune buggy he rode in on. The maybe-prostitute Rita meets a gnarly fate, but unfortunately we do not get to see it carried out. There are a couple good scenes with a machete, which is almost mandatory if you are going to do a movie set in a jungle. Further chaos ensues, but it's nothing our hero (and his lady, who, despite being a "wilting flower" the whole movie, manages to man up in the end) cannot handle in the form of a full camp mutiny.









Turkey Shoot is intense at times, and a lot of fun; despite some poor dubbing in places, there are some fairly big Australian names in this one, and it seems to have had a decent budget given the gratuitous explosions and blood effects. Steve Railsback is amusing as the scrappy revolutionary who gets to blow up the big boss with a machine gun (cheesy effects, entertaining scene nonetheless); oddly enough, all of the characters more-or-less came across as likable to me, even the malicious guards. You have to just accept this one and not judge it too harshly, and you'll have a good time. Fittingly, the movie ends with an H.G. Wells quote:

"Revolution begins with the misfits."