Long Weekend (1979)

A couple that are on the verge of not being a couple any longer take a trip to the Australian coast for a weekend, bringing their strife and noise with them. Their situation is so tense that they don't notice how careless they're being and they continually damage the environment in small ways.

Things start to happen that suggests that there exists a force of malice towards them and at some point it becomes apparent that perhaps the ecosystem is actually attacking them, presumably to protect itself. It's never made explicit because this is a well made film that doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence by trying to spell out something that couldn't really be known if such a story is to be told honestly and from a human perspective.

Great acting and cinematography, a flawless doom-laden atmosphere, constant tension and excellent, memorable use of sound ensure that this Australian film is a classic of the 'nature fights back' subgenre of survivalist horror. There's nothing else quite like it and several scenes have never left my mind.

***A couple camps near the feral coast of eastern Australia***

This Australian production comes in the tradition of nature-runs-amok movies “The Birds,” “Frogs,” “The Food of the Gods” and “Day of the Animals.” It has a welcome artistic flair that somewhat brings to mind “Picnic at Hanging Rock” from three years prior, albeit on a lower budget. The dramatics are naturally more one dimensional due to the story’s focus on just two people.

I have a half brother who lives on the east coast of Australia, and he used to host trips to remote coastal areas. He’d show me footage and it reminds me of this film. The seaside scenery is great and Briony Behets is fetching in a girl-next-door way, albeit kind of biyatchy. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough human interest to make it compelling. Sure, it works up some wilderness eeriness in an imaginative way, but it’s tedious story-wise.

I’ll take “Pray for the Wildcats” with Andy Griffith, William Shatner, Robert Reed and Marjoe Gortner over this any day. It may be a television production, but it’s more rewarding on almost every level.   

It runs 1h 36m and was shot Mar-Apr 1977 near Bega in New South Wales, which is a 5½ hours’ drive south of Sydney with additional stuff done in Melbourne to the southwest. Second unit work was done on the island of Tasmania, which is 275 miles off the coast of Melbourne.

GRADE: B-/C+