The term 'Ozploitation' can be credited to Mark Hartley's 2008 documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation (which prominently featured Quentin Tarantino as a talking head), a retroactively-named strand of genre films – some schlock, some gold, some a bit of both – that coincided and overlapped with the Australian new wave of the 1970s (a movement whose triumphs included films such as Picnic At Hanging Rock, The Devil's Playground and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith). We've selected five Ozploitation titles now available to stream through SBS On Demand:
Long Weekend
Streaming until Monday 29 June (2020), 11:59pm
M
Australia, 1978
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Language: English
Director: Colin Eggleston
Starring: John Hargreaves, Briony Behets, Mike McEwen, Roy Day, Michael Aitkens
What's it about?
Attempting to resurrect their failing marriage, Peter (Hargreaves) and Marcia (Behets) set out on a camping trip to a deserted stretch of the Australian coastline in the hope that a long weekend in the sunshine will help them patch up their differences. Their callous disregard for the environment soon becomes apparent when the animals start to seek vengeance. Marcia and Peter have proved themselves to be wanton destroyers. Can they leave, or will they be destroyed? Considered by Quentin Tarantino to be one of the half-dozen best Australian films.
Road Games
Streaming until Monday 29 June, 11:59pm
M
Australia, 1981
Genre: Thriller
Language: English
Director: Richard Franklin
Starring: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Grant Page
What's it about?
A psychopathic killer (Keach) is targeting people on the highway through the desolate Australian Nullabor Plain. When a Loan Truck driver (Page) and a hitchhiker (Curtis) get curious, and start some amateur investigating the stakes become deadly. From director Richard Franklin (Patrick, Psycho II, Cloak & Dagger).
Body Melt
Streaming until Tuesday 30 June, 11:59pm
MA15+
Australia, 1993
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Language: English
Director: Philip Brophy
Starring: Gerard Kennedy, Andrew Daddo, Lisa McKune
What's it about?
In this gory, tongue-in-cheek horror film, a mad scientist has developed a vitamin pill with horrendous side effects. Soon the inhabitants of an entire Melbourne suburb are experiencing ghastly symptoms - hallucinations, splitting throats, exploding stomachs and body meltdowns.
[link title="In appreciation of Oz gross-out social satire 'Body Melt' " url="node/93382"]
Dark Age
Streaming until Tuesday 30 June, 11:59pm
MA15+
Australia, 1987
Genre: Horror, Adventure
Language: English
Director: Arch Nicholson
Starring: Burnham Burnham, David Gulpilil, John Jarratt, Nikki Coghill, Max Phipps
What's it about?
A pair of rangers (Burnham & Gulpilil) help Steve (John Jarratt) search for a giant killer crocodile. Their mission? To try and safely relocate the sacred croc to a wildlife sanctuary before a bunch of bloodthirsty redneck poachers find it first.
Journey Among Women
Streaming until Tuesday 30 June, 11:59pm
MA15+
Australia, 1977
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Tom Cowan
Starring: Diane Fuller, Lillian Crombie, Nell Campbell, Martin Phelan, June Pritchard
What's it about?
In the late eighteenth century, a Judge Advocate's daughter runs away with a group of twelve women convicts. In the wild colonial bushland, the women successfully defend themselves from wild men living in the wilderness and from the soldiers who try to capture them. When one of the women is raped and murdered, the others seek revenge.
[link title="Journey Among Women Review" url="node/4904"]
