Movies
A weird, somewhat mysterious little mindfuck. It didn't work 100% for me, and yes, that's very much because of the film's age, but it was quite a bit better than I expected. I'm not a big fan of 70s cinema and the premise didn't sound too appealing, but Kotcheff did a great job creating a rather unsettling atmosphere. A young teacher drives home for Christmas, but he gets stuck in a small village. A local cop shows him around and introduces him to a small gambling den. The teacher wants to try his luck, but before he knows it all his money is squandered. With no dime to spare, the locals suddenly aren't that friendly anymore. So yeah, this is basically a hillbilly thriller set in Australia. Some very weird characters inhabit the little town (with a standout role for Donald Pleasence), the teacher's situation gets worse every ten minutes or so and the styling is interesting, though not entirely successful. It's a bit too long and I wouldn't have minded if it had been weirder still, but not too shabby.Read all
