Everett de Roche Movies

Filmmaker Mark Hartley explores Australia's hidden genre in this documentary that casually casts aside "official" film history to celebrate the demented genius of director Brian Trenchard-Smith, and the exciting wave of little-known but supremely entertaining films that entertained adventurous Australian filmgoers throughout the 1970s and '80s. Every film student worth his or her weight in celluloid has seen Breaker Morant and Picnic at Hanging Rock, but what about the lesser-known gems that didn't make the film-school textbooks? In his forward to Tim Lucas' book Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, director Martin Scorsese states, "We have to keep resisting the idea of official film history, a stately procession of 'important works' that leaves some of the most exciting films and filmmakers tucked away in the shadows." In this documentary, director Hartley explores the films forgotten by "official film history" with the comprehensive eye of a true film buff. As a child watching such films as Snapshot and The Man from Hong Kong, Hartley immediately recognized how wildly disparate they were in tone and execution from the films that comprised Australia's traditional film library. Appearing like American genre films that just happened to be shot in Australia and cast with Australian actors, these so-called "Ozploitation" flicks flourished in the wake of relaxed censorship laws down under. Yet despite constant chatter about the "new wave" of Australian cinema, financially successful films like The Man from Hong Kong and Patrick that were popular both at home and abroad were never mentioned, sneeringly dismissed as "genre" films rather than Australian films. Perhaps in the wake of such successful Australian films as Wolf Creek and Undead -- and looking ahead to such films as the slasher shocker Storm Warning and the eagerly anticipated remake of Long Weekend -- curious filmgoers are finally prepared to discover what they've been missing all these years. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A romantic weekend on the water turns into a terrifying struggle for survival when bad weather drives a vacationing couple into an isolated swamp in Urban Legend director Jamie Blanks' tense tale of terror down under. Forced to steer their sailboat to the nearest shore when a storm rolls in and the waters grow treacherous, a young couple has no idea of the depravity they will soon be forced to endure. Shortly after docking their sailboat on a remote island, the stranded pair is captured by a psychotic man and his two demented sons. As the storm gathers ferocity, the couple fights against being sexually enslaved and brutalized to the breaking point. But these maniacs don't have a clue how hard their prisoners are willing to fight in order to stay alive, and as the tables are turned the violence escalates into a visceral explosion of savagery and terror. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The Australian The Feds was not so much a TV series as an anthology of TV movies which happened to star the same people on each occasion (together with a collection of glittering guest stars). Based on actual case histories from the files of the Australian Federal Police, the program covered the "beat" from Australia to Hong Kong and back again. Many of the stories focused on the families of the cops, who though not always in imminent danger were usually affected adversely by the case at hand. Produced by Crawford Television, the 15 90-minute installments of The Feds were broadcast irregularly by the Seven Network from 1993 to 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Franklin directed this horror film that plays like Jane Goodall in Gaslight. Elisabeth Shue is Jane Chase, a graduate student in zoology who volunteers to help Dr. Steven Phillip (Terence Stamp), a professor at the university, with his animal studies. Arriving at his mansion, she is greeted by Link, a orangutan dressed in a monkey suit. Jane gets to know Link and Dr. Phillip's other chimp charges, Imp and Voodoo. One day Dr. Phillip goes to town, supposedly to sell Voodoo, but instead, Voodoo is found dead at the mansion. Link then proceeds to ignore Jane's commands and starts pushing Imp around. When Dr. Phillip's friend Bailey (Kevin Lloyd) arrives to take Voodoo away, Link becomes aggressive and chases Bailey away from the mansion. Jane later realizes Link is holding her prisoner in the mansion, not allowing her through the door and keeping the telephone away from her. Link is now out for blood, and the blood belongs to Jane. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this Australian children's adventure story, the young inventor Cody Walpole (Henry Thomas) is forced to move to the outback with his father's best friend following the death of both parents. Upon arrival, he becomes intrigued by local lore of a "donkejin," or "bunyip," a legendary, dinosaur-like creature that is said to inhabit a defunct mine that lies nearby. Soon, his girlfriend and her younger, wisecracking sister are indeed nearly attacked by something that resembles the bunyip, while rafting in the local lake. Cody begins to suspect that the bunyip is a kind of Loch Ness monster that inhabits the body of water, and he is determined to prove it. A fisherman has died in the lake under mysterious circumstances and it inspires Cody to confront the monster head-on. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Before he directed the cult classic Highlander (1986), music video creator Russell Mulcahy adapted this stylish, tongue-in-cheek horror film from the novel by Peter Brennan. Gregory Harrison stars as Carl Winters, a grief-stricken American husband who has come to a remote corner of Australia to seek answers in the death of his wife, a TV journalist who was investigating a story on kangaroo poaching. Carl meets Jake Cullen (Bill Kerr), a man obsessed with hunting down what he says is an enormous razorback boar that consumed his grandson. Although he was acquitted, most of the locals believe that Jake murdered the boy himself and invented the crazy story about a giant pig. Jake tells Carl that he believes the razorback is also responsible for his wife's death. At first skeptical, Carl becomes a believer when he encounters the beast. He and Jake track it to a dog food processing plant, where the owners are illegally butchering kangaroos for industrial use. The factory operators are also feeding the dog food to the gigantic razorback, increasing its size and carnivorous appetite. Joined by farmer Sarah Cameron (Arkie Whiteley), Carl and Jake set out to kill the powerful mutant. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Hollywood's Stacy Keach stars in Australia's Road Games. Keach is a truck driver who takes the law in his own hands to capture a serial killer. When the police fail to nab the murderer of hitchhikers, Keach takes to the road, conducting his own search. En route, he picks up hitcher Jamie Lee Curtis--and it is her presence that brings the killer out of hiding and into the bloody finale. Director Richard Franklin's fondness for Hitchcock, which would come to full fruition in Psycho II (1982), is very much in evidence throughout Road Games. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Harlequin is directed by Simon Wincer and tells a tale with echoes in 20th-century Russian history. Nick and Sandra Rast (David Hemmings and Carmen Duncan) have a little boy, Alex (Mark Spain), who is suffering from leukemia. Like normal parents they will do anything to help their son, especially Sandra. So when Gregory Wolfe (Robert Powell) comes along with his faith-healing techniques to treat Alex, Sandra is particularly impressed. What complicates matters is that Alex's father Nick will soon be running the government and his career depends a lot on Doc Wheelan (Broderick Crawford), his mentor. Trouble starts when Wheelan cannot abide the faith healer, causing the mysterious Wolfe to react in a most unexpected way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

An Australian couple sets off on a weekend to the coast in this psychological thriller. Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony Behets) are at each other's throats from the moment they pull out of the driveway, as Peter sneaks his dog along for the weekend and Marcia is harboring anger about a recent tragedy the couple faced. As day turns into night and they have yet to reach their destination, Peter hits a kangaroo while falling asleep at the wheel. This sets in motion a chain of mysterious events, which starts with them leaving the beaten path and appearing to go in circles through the darkened thickets of trees -- even though they've driven straight ahead for hours. Upon eventually reaching their destination, the strange happenings continue, with animals behaving in unusual ways, and a persistent cry of anguish floating over the water, which sounds almost human. Peter and Marcia are determined to prove they can rough it, even as they start to wonder if they've gotten in over their head. They doggedly remain camped, despite mounting evidence that they don't understand the feral Australian woods as well as they think. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide