In a totalitarian near future any citizens who are considered deviants, nonconformists, or socially undesirable in any way are rounded up in prison camps for rehabilitation and hunted down like animals by decadent rich folks. Among the unwilling individuals forced to participate in this ghastly blood sport are strong-minded rebel Paul Anders (the always intense Steve Railsback), sweet innocent Chris Walters (a personable portrayal by the ravishing Olivia Hussey), and enticing tramp Rita Daniels (a nicely saucy turn by fetching blonde Lynda Stoner).Aussie exploitation expert Brian Trenchard-Smith keeps the entertaining story moving along at a brisk pace, delivers a handy helping of delightfully excessive and outrageous gore, maintains a blithely trashy tone throughout, adds several amusing moments of pitch-black gallows humor, and even offers a satisfying smattering of tasty gratuitous nudity. This film further benefits from a colorful array of cruel and hateful villains: Michael Craig as ruthless warden Charles Thatcher, Roger Ward as brutish guard Ritter, Carmen Duncan as wicked lesbian bitch Jennifer (who hunts her prey with an obscenely phallic crossbow), Noel Ferrier as gross fat toad Mallory, John Ley as sniveling weasel Dodge, Michael Petrovitch as the slimy Tito, and Guy Mercurio as the sadistic Red. The presence of a ferocious ape-like mutant freak named Alph who eats toes and meets a messy untimely end provides an extra campy kick. The script by Jon George and Neill D. Hicks tosses in some choice clunky social commentary on the evils of fascism and mindless conformity in an attempt to give a smidgen of substance to all the cheap lurid thrills that this flick contains in ample abundance. John R. McClean's crisp cinematography makes nice use of the widescreen format. Brian May's spirited score hits the stirring spot. A total schlocky blast.

"Turkey Shoot" is the most boring prison movie I've ever seen.It's much vaunted graphic violence looks cheap as hell and doesn't follow any law of continuity. Plus, you have to sit through almost an hour of boring movie before you even get to see any.The movie is supposedly set in the future but there is nothing futuristic about it. We only dimly recognise this through the basic set up of people being sent away for minor crimes for "behaviour modification". This is enough of a cliché of dystopian sci fi that they only had to mention it and everyone will assume it's set in the future - no need for fancy sets or costumes or anything that looks in any way "futuristic".There is also the baffling inclusion of some kind of monster-like thing; basically a guy built like a wrestler with glowing red contact lenses. I guess the inclusion of such a creature is also explained by the movie being "set in the future", so don't ask any questions, okay? You'll be too busy scratching your head at its laughably bad death scene: the blade of an earth mover pins the creature to a tree at the back of the knees, then, cut to... the upper half of the creature, severed at the waist, falling onto the ground. How did it get cut at the WAIST, when we just saw the shovel blade pin it at the back of the knee? Did the filmmakers expect us not to notice that?The violence is all so badly done that it's impossible to respond to it with anything other than amusement at the awful special effects. The reason why people go on about the violence in this one, is, it seems, because there is absolutely nothing else in the movie of note or of interest.

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!www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Brian Trenchard-Smith's Turkey Shoot is a typical 80's Aussie horror film, that is, you should not watch this expecting a masterpiece of the genre! You should expect, however, a brainless blood and boobs-fest with dodgy acting and story. And there is a story, surprisingly, although it reeks of George Orwell (a not very good Orwell though). Basically, civilians are sent to concentration camps (in the near future) to be turned into model citizens. Paul Anders (Steven Railsback), Chris Walters (Olivia Hussey) and Rita Daniels (Lynda Stoner) are sent to a camp run by Charles Thatcher (Michael Craig). Of course, this is a cruel camp with a sadistic Chief Guard (Roger Ward) and zany people. Thatcher decides to create a game, a "turkey shoot" in which a few nutcases select prisoners to hunt for sport. As to be expected, our three heroes are selected, along with the resident loon and the tough escapee. What follows is an onslaught of blood and gore which is incredibly enjoyable and odd at the same time.The lead up to the hunt is a tad slow, but some nudity and random violence helps the pacing. The two leads, Railsback and Hussey are pretty good, as is Ward but most others are terrible. None of the characters are that likable, and the werewolf circus freak was so incredible random! But with a film like this, all you can do is sit back and watch the body count rise and the bras come off! This is not great film making, but for an exploitation it is fun while it lasts (it is also one of the best Ozploitation flicks out there).3½/5