Johnny's
comments:
Time
to open the VHS vault
again and I've been
getting into some 80s
Aussie genre lately, so
it's time to strip them
of the good stuff and
release it here.
Strangely, tonight's 3
movies all end on a
downer...
Strangers
(1991)
Strangers
is a 1991 noir thriller
from the makers of the
appalling Ebbtide (they
even use the same
mansion and Strangers
also ends in a similarly
ambiguous way). The
story follows Gary
(James Healey), a
hotshot stockbroker who
meets Anna (Anne Looby,
on debut) on a plane
flight and they hit it
off so well that they
have sex. Gary tells
Anna that it's a one-off
thing as he has a lovely
wife Rebecca (Melissa
Docker) and it seems
like that's it. Except
Anna is a fruitcake and
she loves Gary and wants
him all to herself. Anna
starts killing people
getting in the way of
their love including his
ex (Mary Regan) and her
dad. Next in her sights
is Rebecca.
I
didn't expect much from
this obvious Fatal
Attraction rip-off after
Ebbtide, and well the
best I can say is that
it's better than
Ebbtide, but not much
better. Basically, it's
stock standard stuff and
boring at that, well
except for a wonderfully
batty performance from
Anne Looby, whose a whiz
with the gardening
shears. This is the
first time I've seen
this film, but I
remember when it aired
on TV in the 90s, the
channel that showed it
had a preview of the
Anne Looby sex scene in
the ad. I'm assuming it
was Channel 9 because
they loved a bit of
sleaze in their ads in
the 90s.
The
Big Hurt
(1986)
The
Big Hurt is a
Melbourne-set 80s kinky
noir thriller about
freewheeling journalist
Price (David Bradshaw,
the dulcet voice of
Frontline) who has just
spent 3 months in
Pentridge Prison because
he didn't name his
source. He heads back to
the newspaper he worked
for, The Melbourne Star,
where the editor gives
him a job on the crime
beat. His first job is
reporting on a girl who
seems to have been
tortured to death by
cigarette burns. The
editor wants to spin it
as a vice war with
prostitutes being
killed. That night when
he gets home, he finds a
mysterious woman has
broken into his house.
The woman, Lisa
Alexander (Lian Lunson
and her hair...) wants
Price to check out a
'kink' club (gotta love
the 80s) run by a shonky
character, Alderson
(Simon Chilvers, another
with recognisable
voice). The club has a
back room run by ASIO
(Government Spy Agency)
that is running bizarre
and highly illegal
experiments. Price
checks it out even
though it seems
far-fetched, but he
doesn't find anything
damning. He digs further
and finds that Alderson
was the benefactor of a
research facility that
closed when its chief
scientist O'Neill killed
himself and his gay
lover instead of being
disgraced for being gay.
But something doesn't
add up. Price keeps
digging and what he
uncovers is something
quite shocking and also
related to the
aforementioned 'vice
war'.
This
is one strange,
long-forgotten curio
that, while not
completely successful
because it tries to
stuff too much plot in,
is at times pretty
bonkers and never less
than interesting. The
ending is so bizarre
that I think it's better
just to roll with it
instead of trying to
figure it out. Good fun,
but off its rocker.
Early
Frost
(1982)
Finally,
Early Frost is a
potboiler set in
Blacktown, a suburb of
Sydney where a group of
middle aged women are
getting bumped off and
dragged into their pools
(which is rather
specific mode of
killing). It looks like
Val Meadows (Diana
McLean) is next as she
is electrocuted (um, but
her place doesn't have a
pool...). She wakes up
the next morning and
accuses her son Peter
(Jon Blake on debut).
They seem to have a
relationship that can
only be fixed by one of
them dying. Seems Val is
a terrible mother, a bit
of a slut and had
accidentally killed
Peter's father during a
drunken dispute. Next, a
private detective
looking into the affairs
of those who have died
is killed when his car
blows up. And there's a
photo with the dead
women in it that also
features Val, yep, she's
next, but who is the
killer and does anybody
really care.
Terrible
film, possibly finished
in haste. (It has no
credited director) I'm
not even sure the film
ever gives away the
killer, as we never see
them do it. I'm assuming
the reveal is a scene at
the end which isn't
exactly conclusive. In
fact, Val does actually
die, but this is
revealed in a bizarrely
comical newspaper
article, further adding
to the "finished in
haste" angle. Val is
such a cow of a
character that anyone
watching the film is
probably a suspect. If
you don't do it, I will.
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