Certainly something for it's time, this guilty trashy little pleasure, is great for you gorehounds, thanks to those score of sickeningly and memorable scenes in the R version. Disliked by most of it's cast, who excel in the acting states, really giving their characters what they deserve in a 10/10 effort, Turkey Shoot is like The Running Man, except it's shot in the tropical balmy forests of Cairns, Australia. Made the same year as the Kiwi sci fi future pic, Battletruck, set in post 1994, here this stories set in 1995, a great year, especially for movies if I do say so myself. Deviants: the good guys, rebels, basically a conflicting party who are trying to expose the truth, about the evil forces of dictatorship, who rule with an iron and ruthless hand, are caught and are sent to this sort of torture prison camp, which they must earn their freedom, which of course will never be given. To pass the time for entertainment value, a score of deviants are chosen, where they are let loose in the forest, half an hour between each other, and are hunted down by our bad dudes, led by the merciless prison director, Thatcher (a fine Michael Craig, who like every other performer, impresses and never slacks). Of course the freed score are really just sitting ducks, yes, defenseless as turkeys, set up for their own demise, all in the name of sick entertainment, so the suspense and thrill factor is minimal through the whole hunt. The baddies just appear and take out their objectives. Carmen Duncan, especially, is a nasty piece of work, as a femme fatale, sadistic lesbian hunter, deadly with a bow an arrow. Trivia note: Actress and environmentalist, Lynda Stoner who plays sexy prisoner Rita, wouldn't each raw fish, so fake fish had to be brought in. Pity we didn't see her in other films, as she had the goods, to further her career, and attracts the likes of Hollywood, may'be. Of course, being an exploitation movie, we aren't surprised by the familiar names associated with it, including the actors. This is total trashy junk for the mind's eye, a popcorn flick, just as we love em, where the over top violence adds extra topping to what some people would consider one of the worst Oz films made, period, while many others have developed a cult liking for it, as with Trenchard's other great other set piece The Man From Hong Kong, and to a lesser extent, Dead End Drive in. The truth be known, I love all these flicks, but their all so bad/good popcorn movies, only this one is particularly bad, despite it's tight script of some bloody great dialogue, but the violence is sickeningly ugly, where other moments are just ugly, at the hands of some of the vile dictators, Roger Ward's performance I'll never forget, as also the disguised Steve Rackman as a half human, half monster badarse, looking like Mr Hyde, in those old drink driving ads, you know the one where his eyes light up with emerald green. Each actor is just as great as each other, truly and our two American imports are fantastic too. Just take Turkey Shoot for what's it worth, a mind numbing trashy cinema delight, yet one BLOODY bad movie too.
Review of Turkey Shoot
