NEXT OF KIN (1982) Blu-ray review

Next of Kin (1982) d. Tony Williams (Australia) (89 min)

Jacki Kerin stars as a lass Down Under who, upon reading her recently deceased mother’s diary, discovers numerous dark secrets about the family nursing home. In addition to a glowing electronic score by Klaus Schulze (Tangerine Dream), Gary Hansen’s elegant cinematography, and the presence of John Jarratt (20 years before reaching genre-icon status with Wolf Creek), the slow-burn twists and turns of Michael Heath and director Williams’ script deliver the goods, effectively coupled with memorable screen imagery and flowing Steadicam magic. (The final reel is packed with moments of wonder, including an unforgettable overhead slow-motion hallway run, the diner’s tension-building sugar cube scene, and the wall-crashing, head-splashing, explosives-blasting climax.)

LONG WEEKEND (1978) Blu-ray Review

Long Weekend (1978) d. Colin Eggleston (Australia)

“A bickering young couple’s weekend at an isolated beach resort turns into a nightmarish struggle between Man and Nature.” With that description, and considering the time-stamp and the genre, one might be forgiven for expecting another run-of-the-mill “When Animals Attack” flick, full of egregiously over-the-top warnings of how the human species has run its course as top of the food chain, thanks to centuries of ecological abuse and neglect. While American ex-pat screenwriter Everett de Roche (Patrick, Razorback) isn’t averse to hammering home the point on occasion through scenes of reckless use of weaponry and thoughtless littering, the casually caustic behavior seems somehow more authentic than, say, Frogs’ opening credits shots of beer cans floating in the Florida swamps. Rather than broadly drawn clichés, with our top-billed hero providing the requisite liberal voice of reason, Roche’s bipedal characters are fragile, careless, bullying, insecure, and genuinely confused as to how their choices led them here. In other words, human.

PATRICK (1978) Blu-ray Review

Patrick (1978) d. Richard Franklin (Australia)

Freshly separated from her husband, Kathy Jacquard (Susan Penhaligon) re-enters the workforce as a nurse at a hospital catering to an exclusive clientele of severely disturbed and/or disabled patients. Almost immediately, she forms an attachment to the comatose Patrick (Robert Thompson), all blonde curly hair and blank unblinking stare, and he to her, communicating initially through sharp exhalations, but eventually revealing his true inner gifts. Seems our titular deadpan bedpan is a psychokinetic, with the power to tap out messages on typewriters, trash people’s rooms, possess minds, and who knows what else. And it turns out that he’s the jealous type....

RAZORBACK (1984) movie review

Razorback (1984) d. Mulcahy, Russell (Australia)

During the Ozploitation heyday born of the success of George Miller’s The Road Warrior, music video veteran Mulcahy took the wheel for this surprisingly effective yarn about a giant killer boar menacing Outback locals. In the decade after Jaws scared everyone out of the water, the silver screen played host to all varieties of vicious oversized beasties, with the results ranging from tongue-in-cheek thrills (Alligator, Grizzly) to ludicrous camp classics (The Sea Serpent, Deadly Eyes). No one could have guessed that an carnivorous slab of bacon sporting giant tusks and a bad attitude would turn out to be one of the more successful imitators; Mulcahy’s approach of presenting the cloven-hoofed menace completely straight-faced, while simultaneously introducing the foreignness of the desolate sand-swept environs and its bizarre inhabitants, works like gangbusters.