35mm Long Weekend (1978)

Their crime was against nature. Nature found them guilty.

A standout entry of Ozlploitation horror, Long Weekend is a tense and bleak thriller written by Australian genre auteur Everrett De Roche (Patrick, Road Games). The film wholly succeeds on a purely visceral level, but it also carries a prescient message about the devastation risked by our myopic indifference to the natural world.

Attempting to resurrect their failing marriage, Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony Behets) set out on a camping trip to a deserted stretch of the Australian coastline in the hope that a long weekend in the sunshine will help them patch up their differences. They trample through the countryside, destroying everything in their tracks, carelessly scattering their rubbish and shooting anything that moves. Their callous disregard for the environment soon becomes apparent when the animals start to seek vengeance. Marcia and Peter have proved themselves to be wanton destroyers. Can they leave, or will they be destroyed?

Includes a post-screening Q&A with producer Richard Brennan.

Rating

M

Cast

John Hargreaves, Briony Behets

Director

Colin Eggleston