THE CRITIC-AL LIST
Reviews by Alan Jones
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

Salt
The Expendables
The Last Airbender
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Inception
Predators
The Twilight Saga:Eclipse
Toy Story 3
Hot Tub Time Machine
Iron Man 2
Repo Men
The Collector
Clash of the Titans
Shelter
How To Train Your Dragon
Kick-Ass
Shutter Island
Alice In Wonderland
The Crazies
Case 39
The Wolfman
Legion
The Lovely Bones
Black Death
Daybreakers
Avatar
Ninja Assassin
The Descent: Part 2
Amer
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Box
2012
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Horseman
Solomon Kane
Pandorum
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
District 9
An Education
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra
Orphan
A Perfect Getaway
The Imaginarium Of
Doctor Parnassus
Up
Harry Potter
And The Half-Blood Prince
The Taking of Pelham 123
Transformers
The Revenge Of The Fallen
Antichrist
Terminator Salvation
Last House On The Left
Inglorious Basterds
Angels & Demons
Adventureland
Star Trek
Crank: High Voltage
Coraline
Dragonball Evolution
Let The Right One In
Drag Me To Hell
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Not Quite Hollywood
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Martyrs
The Children
Surveillance
Watchmen
The Unborn
The International
Friday The 13th
Franklyn
Push
Punisher:War Zone
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
Underworld
The Rise OF The Lycans
My Bloody Valentine
Bolt
Slumdog Millionaire

Directed by Mark Hartley. Documentary, Aus, 110 min. Web Site.

Back in the 1970s Australia believed its art house movies, like PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975) were the continent’s indigenous mainstream. Anything considered viciously commercial in the rest of the world was seen as tasteless and vulgar Down Under.

But a sudden relaxing in censorship and introduction of an R/Restricted rating meant canny Antipodes producers jumped on the liberalisation bandwagon to exploit new creative freedoms with edgy native twists.  It ushered in a Golden Era of B movie sex romps, terror tales and kung fu trash more explicit, violent and vigorous than anything emerging from Hollywood. And so Ozploitation was born.  Its never-before-told story is the subject of director Mark Hartley’s breezy, brash and quite brilliant documentary crammed with hilarious insights from the genre’s key individuals and fans – including Quentin Tarantino.  This socko doco about ocker shockers proved a huge hit at the March FrightFest. Now Optimum Releasing has unleashed the movie on DVD and it’s a fabulous must-have package. From the rude ALVIN PURPLE and FANTASM to the schlock of HOWLING III and TURKEY SHOOT, Hartley’s hugely entertaining bonzer grindhouse profile hurtles through the boobs, pubes and tubes comedies, then the killer chillers and high-octane actioners. It ends by highlighting the genre’s possible resurgence with WOLF CREEK, the LONG WEEKEND remake and the hope that the (UNDEAD) Spierig brothers’ DAYBREAKERS just might begin the cycle again.  The terrific DVD extras include an Ozploitation trailer reel featuring the likes of PATRICK, DEAD KIDS and ROAD GAMES, a lively conversation between Tarantino and prolific Oz director Brian Trenchard-Smith (THE MAN FROM HONG KONG, DEAD END DRIVE-IN), a talent panel discussion on issues raised in the movie filmed at the Melbourne International Film Festival and an interview with Hartley himself, the latter a UK exclusive.

Bursting with energy, terrific clips and enormously funny anecdotes from directors, producers and stars involved Hartley’s essential Aussie almanac is a reminder of what we’ve all been missing from MAD MAX land.  Quite simply an essential item for all genre enthusiasts.

Alan Jones

© London FrightFest Ltd. 2000-2009
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