“Disobedience is treason, treason is a crime, crime will be punished!”

Justin’s rating: What I’d expect from a country of incorrigible criminals! And also Thomas. And Flinthart. And the other few million excellent blokes.

Justin’s review: When I saw this movie’s title and a picture of a guy in khakis running around in what looked like a swamp, I automatically assumed that Turkey Shoot was another entry in the Deliverance school of deadly backcountry yokels. Friends, it’s not, it’s really not. This is a crazy flick.

Anyway, I think it’s a terrible title that conveys little about what this grindhouse feature is about. (It was retitled Escape 2000 for American audiences, which is a bit generic but more on point.) It’s a bit George Orwell’s 1984, a bit Hunger Games, a bit Bridge Over the River Kwai, and a whole lot of everyone’s favorite short story inspiration, The Most Dangerous Game. Very quickly we’re thrust into a 2000-era totalitarian dystopia where any enemies — perceived or real — of “Society” are rounded up and shipped off to brutal behavior modification camps.

But because the government doesn’t mind making a few bucks on the side, it pulls malcontents from these camps for the rich to hunt on human safari. This is only the latest in a line of perversions that the sadistic camp commanders unleash, but it may be their undoing if the handful of prisoners chosen for this year’s “turkey shoot” can somehow turn the tables on their captors.

We follow a trio of prisoners into the camp and then through the hunt: meek Chris (Olivia Hussey, Black Christmas), pirate radio operator Paul (Steve Railsback, Lifeforce), and suspected prostitute Rita (Lynda Stoner). Chris is shocked at the horrors of the camp, and gradually goes on a journey from meek innocent to emboldened rebel. Paul’s also exceedingly defiant, having escaped camps before and determined to upend the whole system if possible.

With a low budget and a desire to shock rather than tastefully go through the story beats, Turkey Shoot throws everything at the viewer including patently fake bloody bits, a weird werewolf guy (totalitarian states, always making them werewolves), exploding arrows, cruel death traps, specialized hunting equipment, and gratuitous nudity. Some of it is crass and not to be defended, but it’s not all trash.

The hunt goes across the Australian bush, and it’s quite a beautiful backdrop for this lethal game. Once this portion begins, it’s nonstop action and a frantic scrabble to survive — until the prisoners manage to spark a full-fledged revolution. Oh, and the werewolf eats a toe. That kind of disclaimer is never on the rating.

To put it mildly, Turkey Shoot wasn’t a celebrated piece of Australian cinema when it came out. Its filming was somewhat of a mess, and the resulting product earned harsh jeers from critics and bashful comments from the creator and stars alike. Yet it’s endured as a weirdly compelling slice of Ozploitation with its own following, and reportedly, Quentin Tarantino is a fan of it.

Crude elements aside, this movie does an admirable job in giving us heroes to root for, enemies to boo, and a great injustice that must be set to right within 90 minutes. If they weren’t so gung-ho into making this an exploitation flick, it could’ve busted through its cult tier and hung out with Mad Max or the like.

Intermission!

• This movie starts with a full-blown riot and no context — that got my attention
• Camp 41: Re-Education and Behaviour Modification
• This guy really loves his whip
• That’s a very chunky chess board
• Why was the guard limping?
• The crushing cage
• “I’m the one who can’t break. I’m the one who you’ve been afraid of all your life.”
• Dodge has ridiculously thick glasses
• “The small slimy one, he should squirm rather nicely.”
• RANDOM WEREWOLF IN A TOP HAT
• This whole movie is ADR, I swear
• “Dodge don’t need nobody!”
• Werewolves love eating toes
• Ah that’s where I left my head collection
• I like how that guy just so happened to have a rocket launcher in the bulldozer with him, so casual
• Those are the fakest cut off hands. In fact, most of the blood and gore of this movie looks like an amateur Halloween haunted house
• Maybe don’t make exploding arrows if you don’t want to get stabbed in the head with them
• I can’t get over how goofy Chris handles that machine gun, but she kills like 100 guys, so I shouldn’t question her technique