LONG
WEEKEND gives us the tale of Peter and Marcia
and a little camping trip that Peter has
devised as a way to try and save a marriage
that has been dead for quite some time.
Like trying to deliver CPR to a corpse,
really. It's a lot of work with zero results.
This couple has some severe baggage on their
hands.
We've got infidelity, abortion
and a seething hatred that literally leaps
from the screen when these two are together.
And they're together a lot because there
are really no other actors in this film.
Sure, there are a couple of lines from no
names in the film, but it's really about
these two and how they try to cope with
a disastrous relationship. Unfortunately,
these two have externalized their rage so
much that it affects the environment. The
local fauna have no intentions of putting
up with this pair and their crap so; it
doesn't take long before the animals attack.
Peter gets attacked by a harpy eagle and
it escalates from there. We get bird attacks,
crab attacks, spider attacks. Hell, there
are even dead manatee attacks. Don't ask
you'll just have to watch the movie. I even
caught an attack on a microscopic level.
When Marcia puts out a chicken to thaw it
goes rotten way too soon. Even the bacteria
are after these two and who can blame them?
Neither Peter nor Marcia has any sort of
closeness to nature. They just plow over
or shoot anything that they feel like.
Written by Everett De Roche
who gave us one of my favorite movies, ROAD
GAMES, gives us a convincing portrait of
two people that are on a path of self destruction
and wraps it up in a 'when animals attack'
scenario that works really well without
being too tongue in cheek. The two leads
are very believable and it's interesting
to note that Briony Behets, who plays Marcia
has a genuine chameleon ability inherent
in the film. When she is clothed she comes
across as very haggard and careworn. There's
the hint of a nice figure, but that's about
it. Then when she does disrobe she becomes
this bronzed goddess who exudes a sexual
heat that is quite surprising.
Now, for the weird part. I
had heard of this film a little while ago,
but hadn't seen it until I was sent the
disc by our erstwhile editor. I watched
the entire thing, liked what I saw and set
out to write the review in front of you.
It was then that I realized that this wasn't
a new movie. I thought it was a recent film,
not something from the '70's. Looking back
I realize that it explained some of the
clothing, but it still came across as a
vibrant and relevant story today. Almost
a little ahead of it's time in its awareness
of the environment.
The DVD has a beautiful, anamorphic
2.35:1 transfer along with an interesting
audio commentary by producer Richard Brennan
and Cinematographer Monton. NO chance of
getting the director onboard for this since
he's been dead since 1992. There's a still
gallery with an audio interview with star
John Hargreaves. Only slightly creepy since
Mr. Hargreaves passed away from AIDS back
in '96. We get a theatrical trailer and
that's about it. Probably not a lot that
Synapse Films could do with the director
and male star being gone, but it seems a
shame to exclude Ms. Behets who contributed
so much to the film. She's still quite active
in Australian television and could have
done something to contribute to the disc.
LONG WEEKEND is proof positive
that Synapse Films will not rest until they
have wrested all of our money from our grubby
little hands.
