BONZA - Australia & New Zealand Database

Title

Turkey Shoot

Released

1982

Production Year

1981

Director

Brian Trenchard-Smith

Comments

With all the hype about this film â itâs frequently claimed as the worst film ever made in this country â the expectation was high (or low I guess you could say). Twenty years on however, the film doesnât shock as easily as it used to. Sure there were moments of blood and gore, flagrant nudity, the odd flashy explosions, bad acting and cruel and twisted forms of torture and death.

However, the truth is, the nudity is limited to one mass shower scene and the dismembering of body parts is gory but also so far detached from reality that itâs humorous. The publicity hype surrounding the film (aided by the âoutrageâ and the âshockâ of film critics worldwide) created the monster that we only hear about, but which the film does not altogether live up to. This, however, seems to be what exploitation cinema is all about.

The DVD special features also offer interviews with members of the cast and the director about their responses to the filmâs infamy. Actress Lynda Stoner was by far the most cynical and spiteful in her recollections of the film and her experiences associated with it. You canât really blame her however; she was only there to enhance the visual âaestheticsâ of exploitation by the focus on her two biggest assets. Michael Craig also offers his own interpretation of the film by suggesting it was ââ¦Fun really. Entertainment thatâs how I look at itâ¦ like a kind of adult Disney reallyâ.

Synopsis

Set in 1995, "Turkey Shoot" is about a group of prisoners who are taken to a re-education and behaviour modification camp, run by brutal camp master Thatcher. When the new inmates are chosen to take part in a game of Turkey Shoot, where inmates are given their freedom only to be hunted down and brutally killed by the warden and his friends, they have to survive until sundown to secure their freedom.

Also on the DVD (released by Umbrella Entertainment, 2003) is an interview featurette âBlood and Thunder Memoriesâ with cast members Michael Craig, Lynda Stoner and Roger Ward, as well as an interview with the director Brian Trenchard-Smith in the featurette âA Good Soldierâ.

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