RARE OZPLOITATION PART 6 OF MUFF AUSTRALIAN CULT CINEMA SECTION.

PROGRAMMED BY ANDREW LEOVOLD

IN PART 6 OF OUR ON GOING SERIES ON OZPLOITATION THAT STARTED IN 2000, MUFF PLAYS YOU SOME RARE OZ CINEMA TREATS. MIFF GAVE YOU A RETROSPECTIVE OF FILMS THAT WERE ALL READILY AVAILABLE ON DVD FOR AROUND 10 BUCKS. MUFF, WITH THE HELP OF ANDREW LEOVOLD, PRESENTS THE RARE TREATS NOT SO EASILY VIEWED. WHOSE SECTION IS BETTER? YOU BE THE JUDGE.

NEXT OF KIN
Directed by Tony Williams (1982)
Jacki Kerin, John Jarratt, Alex Scott,
Gerda Nicolson, Charles McCallum
11pm / Fri 10 Oct / The George
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An unfairly forgotten gem from the early 80s slasher mania, set in an isolated Gothic retirement home in which something evil lurks. Linda (Jackie Kerin) returns to her sleepy country town to take over her late mother’s position at Montclare and rekindles an old flame with local boy Barney (a youngish John Jarratt). As the “accidental” deaths of her elderly charges stack up around her, New Zealand director Williams deftly switches tone from a slow-burning Old Dark House chiller to explosive psycho thriller, with a blood-drenched expressionist finale and Goblin-esque score worthy of prime Argento.

WAKE IN FRIGHT
Directed by Ted Kotcheff (1971)
Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay, Jack Thompson, John Meillon
7pm / Thu 16 Oct / The George
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Outback guignol with the Australian landscape as a monster from the Id or existential Hell, take your pick. Little seen since the early Seventies, Wake In Fright is a journey into darkness for a slightly effete schoolteacher (Gary Bond) waylaid in a small sweatstain of a country town. Once the obliging townsfolk and the endless supply of alcohol erode his civilized veneer he becomes seemingly trapped forever in the seventh layer of Dante’s Inferno, peopled with such grotesqueries as the perverse whiskey doctor (Donald Pleasence), Jack Thompson as a beer-crazed roo shooter, and the iconic Chips Rafferty as the unsettlingly benign ersatz Sheriff. Unnerving beyond belief, and perhaps Australian Cinema’s greatest undiscovered classic.

FELICITY
Directed by John D Lamond (1979)
Glory Annen, Christopher Milne, Joni Flynn, John Michael Howson.
11pm / Sat 18 Oct / The George
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Beautifully shot tale of a young convent-schooled teenage girl (Glory Annen) and her sexual awakening in Hong Kong. For once Aussie smut cinema has created a genuinely erotic reworking of vaseline-lensed glossy Euro softcore decadence a la Emmanuelle. One of the best known of all Aussie sex films overseas due to its universal theme, the pulling power of cult star Annen, and its classy veneer due to the amazing production values squeezed out of its micro-budget by exploitation genius Lamond (Australia After Dark, Pacific Banana).

THE MAN FROM HONG KONG
Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith (1975)
Jimmy Yu Wang, George Lazenby, Roger Ward, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rebecca Gilling
11pm / Fri 17 Oct / The George
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The unlikely pairing of Village Roadshow and martial arts studio Golden Harvest produced Australia’s only true blue kung fu flick. Imported kung fu superstar “Jimmy” Wang Yu plays a Hong Kong cop out to bust Bondian supervillain (and former James Bond) George Lazenby in a flurry of flying fists and tough guy theatrics. From the film’s opening chopathon atop Ayers Rock to its window-shattering finale, expatriate action specialist Brian Trenchard-Smith keeps tongue firmly in cheek whilst wringing remarkably straight-faced performances from Rebecca Gilling, Frank Thring, a young Sammo Hung and Mad Max’s Roger Ward and Hugh Keays-Byrne.

COSY COOL
Directed by Gary Young (1977)
11pm / Sat 11 Oct / The George
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Gary Young, John Wilson, Laurie Moran, Richard Allen, Pam Jackman, Sharlene Webb Astoundingly Z-grade DIY biker home movie starring producer/director Young as frustrated country lad Cosy Cool and John Wilson as his best mate (and self-confessed “space cadet”) Gracious Grytt who blow their car show prize money on a freedom bike ride and cavort around with two young playthings, only to be framed by a town of rednecks for their ritual murder. The final massacre involving real-life Commancheros linked the film forever with the Fathers Day Massacre in 1984, in which cast member Foggy and Wilson’s then-girlfriend were killed; the film should be remembered instead as a bizarre time capsule of biker culture circa 1975, with the most wretched production values possible and endlessly, deliriously quotable dialogue (“Negative waves! Negative waves!”).

BEYOND MY REACH
Directed by Gary Young (1977)
5pm / Fri 17 Oct / Glitch
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Beyond My Reach was the sixth film from Boulevard Films and in some ways is its "lost" gem. Frank Howson produced and co-wrote this feature sandwiched in between his directorial debut with Hunting and before the prolonged and troubled filming of Flynn. He describes that time as chaotic and intense as he and his business partner were drifting apart due to two opposing views of where Boulevard should be headed. Beyond My Reach seems to depict this rift and tells the story of two friends, Chris Brooks (played by David Roberts, star of The Square) and Alex Gower (Alan Fletcher), a director and writer team who score a little Australian art house success and then find themselves being seduced by the powerbrokers of Hollywood, who want to recut their Aussie flick to make it more marketable in the U.S. Chris sells out to the pressure while Alex sticks to ideals, thus ending their friendship and working relationship. Alex returns to his little personal films, while Chris finds himself an in-demand director of Hollywood Exploitation movies. The film cleverly parallels their different paths as one struggles against the system and the other descends into his own personal hell. When they meet up again, years later, they are two very changed people. Beyond My Reach is a study not only of the human condition and the temptations the industry can throw at you, but also of the demands of the Exploitation market and what is expected of young film-makers who choose that path. The films also stars Terri Garber (the American star of "North and South" and "Dynasty") whom Howson, ironically, would marry some 10 years later when he was living in Hollywood.