Turkey Shoot (aka Escape 2000) (1982)

By Devon Gilbert

I decided to view this old ozploitation movie (meaning Australian exploitation flick) because it looked like one of the better movies on the excellent Not Quite Hollywood documentary.  Turkey Shoot is more or less what I expected from the clips, which is to say it was a silly, bloody, low-budget action exploitation movie.  I was a little surprised that Brian Trenchard-Smith directed it, considering his other “famous” ozploitation movie Dead-End Drive In seemed to be much more mature and less focused on shock value.  But that was made five years after this one.

The plot for Turkey Shoot is incredibly simple.  Sometime in the near future a totalitarian government rules Australia.  All people that deviate from what they’re told, or are even accused of it, end up being sent to a strict prison camp where they undergo behavior modifications.  Or more simply, people are sent to these camps to be abused and killed.  From what we see of the camp, people are forced to work hard labor and take showers naked together.  They are also beaten to a bloody pulp and lit on fire.  However five people, three of them main characters, are given a chance at freedom if they can survive being hunted in the wilderness for 24 hours.

The three main victims of the hunt are Steve Railsback (Barb Wire, The Devil’s Rejects) as Paul Anders, Olivia Hussey (1968 Romeo and Juliet, It) as Chris Walters, and Lynda Stoner (no other movies) as Rita Daniels.  I think for a B movie like this they all do a good job with their roles, though in all honesty Stoner barely has anything to do in this.  Hussey looks genuinely terrified the whole movie (and according to interviews with the cast she was genuinely scared of Australian wildlife) and that’s really all she has to do.  Railsback is entertaining as the stereotypical hero who won’t give the evil camp warden (Michael Craig) the satisfaction of breaking.  He looks like a wimp but he has charisma, I guess.

I liked the brutality of the camp, but it was probably much more shocking in the 80’s.  Still, the abuse of the prisoners is so outrageously sadistic (like beating a women to death for not being able to sing an anthem right) that it’s hard not to be satisfied.  The hunt takes up the brunt of the movie, and the gore is what saves it.  People die in such violent ways (impaling, being cut in half) that the movie redeems itself from any flaws.  Plus, the addition of a mutant werewolf like hunter and a crazy lesbian hunter gets bonus points.  The climax features a giant body count and plenty of explosions, even if it’s all still low budget.

For anybody that likes B movies, this is definitely one to check out.  It’s sadistic, violent, and shocking (though not in a Saw or Hostel way) but still silly and unserious.  It’s also in a lot of ways better than the B movies that come out these days.

Turkey Shoot:  B+