Be careful how to handle the great out doors

Long Weekend (1978)
Directed By: Colin Eggleston
Where to get it: Synapse
Reviewer: Chuck Conry

The Prologue
Up until I couple weeks ago I had never heard of this 1978 movie about animals that make up one deserted area of Australia. Not just any animals, but animals that decide they hate a couple camping out and want to kill them in this movie called, Long Weekend. But upon browsing a movie forum like I sometimes do, I ran across a member of the Synapse films family talking about it among this board’s group of members. The plot got my attention and I just hate to check into it. In my searching I’ve found that there’s a good chance that a lot of you have never heard of Long Weekend before. Now after seeing it for myself, I think it’s a bit of a shame that more haven’t checked it out.

The Movie
Attempting to resurrect their failing marriage, Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony 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 their differences. They are a careless couple, littering the countryside with garbage, shooting guns and even driving away after wounding a kangaroo with their automobile. Their callous disregard for the environment soon becomes apparent when the animals start to seek vengeance. Marcia and Peter have proved themselves to be destroyers of nature. Will the animals allow them to leave or will they be destroyed?

To be blunt, the characters of Peter and Marcia that make up our clearly unhappy couple, aren’t the most pleasant people you’ve ever been greeted with on film. As a matter of fact, they are rather annoying, careless, and too full of their own issues to care about anything outside their own little bubbles. Now don’t get me wrong, the characters have their own dark issues that soon come to the forefront of this film, but they could care less about what tree they chop down, what eggs they splatter, and what poor bouncy creature they run over on the road. This is of course meant to come across exactly how it does and makes it all the more interesting when nature and all it’s beings seem to be trying to fight back.

Another key thing that this film has going for it is it’s look. The tight wooded setting is perfect for a film that seems to be a bit on the artsy and stylish side of things. It also packs some nice water scenes that look very clear and smooth for a 1978 film on standard DVD. So if you want a good plot and a great looking movie, Long Weekend, at least gets that part on point and does it’s job very well. It’s with the pacing and the style of the film that could cause one or more issues to the average person watching. One main issue this film has going against it is the slow build. Things never seem to get in a hurry, and it’s well passed the half way point before business picks up. And an issue could also be made about the fact that while nature does fight back, maybe it could have been cool to have seen it do a little more than what it does.

Long Weekend gives us well acted leads that are meant to be unpleasant and careless to everything around them. And in that they hit the nail on the head so well we have to wonder why the animals and such wait soo long to make a move on these folks. The film looks great and I do enjoy the overall plot about as much as any movie lover could, I just wish it didn’t drag it’s knuckles as much as it does for the majority of the film’s run-time. That being the case, I still wouldn’t call it bad. I also think at least the ending and final 15 or so minutes are a perfect end for a film like this. It won’t be for everyone out there, but it’s still worth checking out at some point.

The Conclusion
It might be a long 95 minutes to anyone who watches Long Weekend and can’t handle a film that packs a slow build and some dragging. But for this who can bare with it, you’ll probably find yourself a well made and awesomely stylish movie that does pack a few fun and ironic moments. So, if it sounds like something you can stay with and dig, then by all means check it out.

The Rating (6.5/10)